Rewilding and the expansion of environmental partnerships

by Judy Keeler

Personal History

I’m at least a fifth generational rancher and my grandchildren are fifth generational New Mexicans.  A heritage we’re proud of.

          1) Great grandfather, Ed Faulkner, Texas Ranger - moved family to                       Mesilla, NM – 1880s

            2) Grandfather, Rufe Faulkner, born in Old Mesilla in 1892. New   Mexico brand inspector. Bought ranch east of Hachita, NM in 1921.

            3) Father, Dick Faulkner, bought his ranch east of Hachita - 1947.

            4)  My husband and I bought our ranch Animas, NM - 1979. 

Involvement Federal Agency & Radical Environmental Agenda

1) My involvement with the Federal Agencies began the year we moved to our ranch in - 1988.  Every since that year I’ve been actively engaged in land-use issues whether it was at a local, state or national level. I’ve also worked with a vast assortment of federal agencies, including the BLM, Forest Service, US Fish and Wildlife Service and environmental groups like the Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife and Sky Island Alliance to name a few.

            A) When I received my first scoping letter from the BLM in 1988 I didn’t even know what a scoping letter was but I remember writing in every line, on every issue how I thought the land could best be managed.  I kept saying, “I believe in private property rights and free enterprise.  In my opinion, no one can manage a piece of property better than the man that owns it”!

            B) I later learned around 1990 Congress was looking into buying the Gray Ranch for the Animas Wildlife Refuge.  These seemingly two unrelated issues caused me to start doing some research on our federal agencies and TNC to find out what was taking place in our nation.

The Nature Conservancy

Time does not allow me to give you all the information I’ve gleaned about the Nature Conservancy and various other environmental groups or their interaction with our federal agencies.

But what I’ve learned over the last 25 years is the Nature Conservancy is the considered the daddy war bucks of the conservation community.  They are the “go to’s” if you need support to get started or a federal grant.  They make sure their friends are well funded.  And they have the ear of our politicians.

In 1997 the Nature Conservancy reported assets in the amount of about $500 million.  Today they report having 5 billion 650 millions in assets.  Lobbying congress takes up a significant amount of their budget.

The Wildlands Project

The Wildlands Project though is, in my opinion the most insidious agenda behind many of our land use planning today in America.  The radical environmental organizations use the Endangered Species Act, lawsuits against our federal agencies as well as work with our federal agencies.  In fact I’ve met lots of what I call “wildlanders” that work within these agencies.

The Wildlands is an actual document first published in 1992 in the Wild Earth.  The concept is that the Nature Conservancy and other organizations will help set up preserves all over the world to “save” animals.  In fact TNC claims they are going to build an ark, just like Noah’s Ark, but there will be thousands of these arks all over our world.

How do these groups appeal to normal people, like you and me?  They show us pretty pictures of wildlife, grizzly bears, jaguars, and seals.  They claim these animals are going extinct.  They also show us beautiful pictures of landscapes they claim must be saved.  In my opinion, they take our God given desire to protect His creation and our emotional desire to care for these places and animals to deceive us.

I believe with all my heart this one of the greatest deceptions going on in our Nation today.

Our Challenges

I encourage everyone to do your own research!!  I appreciate critical thinkers and want you to do your own work.  Don’t take my word for this.  But I will tell you one of our biggest challenges is found in Washington, DC.  The folks that work there have lost touch with their roots.  They either do not recognize or do not esteem the contribution agricultural producers have made and still make today to our nation’s health, safety, welfare and our economy.

All the endangered species, fire plans, watershed plans, in fact all the whole land-use efforts I’ve been involved in, beginning in 1988, have been very time consuming and tedious.  But through my research I’ve learned so very, very much.

Do I get tired?  Yes.  Do I get frustrated?  You’d better believe I do.  There are so many things I’d rather be doing but I’m not going to quit!  NO!!  I’m going to be like the little widow woman in the Bible that just kept knocking on the judge’s door until he finally gave her justice!!

If you’re interested doing your own research, this some information on the table you can pick up as you leave.

In closing I’d like to quote a passage from Arthur Young’s book “Travels”, written in 1787 after a tour of the U.S. to figure out what made our nation so great, he sums up my feelings very well.  "Give a man the secure possession of bleak rock, and he will turn it into a garden; give him a nine years lease of a garden, and he will convert it to a desert..... The magic of property turns sand into gold."

Thank you!!