Senators introduce new bill to designate Organs, desert peaks a national monument

Tom Udall

U.S. Sens. Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich, both D-N.M., joined what has been an ongoing effort to designate the iconic Organ Mountains a national monument and protect hundreds of thousands of acres throughout Doña Ana County, introducing a new bill Thursday. The national monument would total about 450,000 acres -- or 780 square miles -- nearly half of which would be designated a wilderness area, the highest level of protection that can be imposed by Congress. Udall said the proposal would protect land in the Organ Mountains; the Robledo Mountains northwest of Las Cruces, the Doña Ana Mountains north of Las Cruces; the Potrillo Mountains in the southwestern part of the county; and the Sierra de Las Uvas Mountains in the Hatch region. He said the land contains significant plant and animal species and key historical locales. "This is land that is home to pronghorn and deer, as well as rare plants and animals -- some found nowhere else in the world, including the Organ Mountains pincushion cactus," he said in a teleconference Thursday...more

 This is the Bingaman bill on steroids.  The real pincushions are not the cacti, its the citizens of Dona Ana County.

For the record, here is the complete quote I gave the Sun-News:

“The bill is a political fraud. If Bingaman, as Chairman of the Committee couldn’t get 300,000 acres of wilderness and nca’s passed, they have to know this bill with 500,000 acres of wilderness and monuments will not pass. The bill is nothing but a set-up so they can by-pass the legislative process and go to Obama and request the entire area be made a monument by presidential proclamation.”