New Mexicans Say Obama 'Land Grab' Will Harm Ranchers, Border Security

Schickedanz

The Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument created by President Barack Obama on May 21 has angered some New Mexico residents, particularly ranchers who fear the designation will make it easier for dangerous cartels from Mexico to move people and drugs through the region. The monument is spread over about 500,000 acres near Las Cruces in Dona Ana County. "We do not see that there is anything that is better about having a monument designation, and what it does is cause more possibilities for abuse," says Carol Cooper, whose family has owned a cattle ranch on acreage that encompasses about one-eighth of the newly designated monument lands. Cooper told Newsmax that she fears the federal government will use its power to take away her livelihood and investment, closing roads and making it nearly impossible for her family to take care of its livestock. "The president acted unilaterally in this, without the input of Congress," said Cooper, who belongs to a group of about 30 people who regularly gather, seeking to thwart the government from taking over their land and industry. "As ranchers, we don't need more restrictions," she said. "We don't need our hands tied when we are trying to take care of our business. We have always worked with the Bureau of Land Management, but it is very obvious they don't want us here. We are nervous about regulations in the future that are even more restrictive." Jerry G. Schickedanz, a former agriculture dean at New Mexico State University who serves as chairman of the Western Heritage Alliance, calls the federal designation an "end run" that leaves ranchers and farmers with no protection from government ruining their livelihoods. "I'm not opposed to national monuments if they are protecting something," Schickedanz told Newsmax. "This one is scattered over 500,000 acres on three or four difference parcels. For many of the prehistoric or archaeological sites, there is no road out there. I don't know what people [who visit] are going to do. They are going to be very disappointed if they come here, get a rental car and drive all the way from the El Paso [Texas] airport. It's a big scam as far as I see as increasing tourism. It's not a destination." Ranchers, he said, fear they will lose all the money and work they have put into maintaining their parcels. "If the government imposes tougher regulations — at the behest of environmentalists who supported the monument — their small pieces of private land are not going to be enough to make a living on," he said. Schickedanz decried the increasing impact of the government in the Western states where the Bureau of Land Management oversees 19 monument areas in nine states. As for the president, "he doesn't care one whip about a national monument there. This is all politics," said Schickedanz, who questioned the timing of the action...more