WILDERNESS by Stephen Capra

www.nmwild.org • NMWA Wildlands Conference - See Back Page NEW MEXICO’s • Yard Sale Benefits NMWA - See Back Page • Spanish Summaries in selected articles NATIONAL FORESTS: THE BIRTHPLACE OF WILDERNESS by Stephen Capra hen looking at the issues surrounding our National Forests, it is important to understand them from the Wperspective of wilderness. New Mexico, and more specifically the Gila, is often referred to as the birthplace of wilderness. It was in this magic range of forests, deep canyons, trout, wolves and (not so long ago) grizzlies, that Aldo Leopold found the inspiration to push the Forest Service for the creation of the nation’s first primitive area in 1924. This was the precursor to our modern wilderness areas. When President John- son signed the Wilderness Act in 1964, 438,360 acres of the Gila National Forest became the first wilderness area of our current Wilderness Preservation System. Today the Gila Wilderness has been expanded to 559,324 acres. This area, along with the 207,208 acre Aldo Leopold Wilderness and thousands of acres of unprotected National Forest, is the vast tract of roadless land once described by Leopold as the “cream of creation.” New Mexico as a whole contains some 9.3 million acres of National Forest land divided into 5 forests. They are the Carson, Santa Fe, Cibola, Gila, Lincoln and the Coronado. What comes as a surprise to many is that New Mex- ico’s National Forests have three times the amount of roads in them than the rest of New Mexico. Despite this statis- Aldo Leopold’s Imprint on tic, there still remains as much as a 1.6 American Wilderness Lives On see WILDERNESS, pg. 9 2005: Nature’s Crisis By Dave Foreman In my 35 years as a conservationist, I have never beheld such a bleak and depressing situation as I see today. The evidence for my despair falls into three categories: the state of Nature, the power of anticonservationists, and appeasement and weakness within the conservation and environmental movements. I fear that on some level we must recognize that this state of affairs may be inevitable and impossible to turn around. That is the coward’s way out, though. The bleakness we face is all the more reason to stand tall for our values and to not flinch in the good fight. It is important for us to understand the parts and pieces of our predica- ment, so we might find ways to do better. The State of Nature I’ve just authored a book, Rewilding North America, which goes into considerable detail describing and trying to understand the Seven Ecological Wounds that drive the Sixth Not only has the radical-right Presidency and Great Extinction, which is the fundamental fact Congress stopped any progress in the conser- and problem in the world today. Around the vation and restoration of Nature, they are dedi- world, direct killing of wildlife, habitat destruc- cated to overthrowing the twentieth century’s tion, habitat fragmentation, loss of ecological legacy of conservation and environmental processes, invasion by exotic species and dis- policy and programs. They are unabashedly eases, ecosystem pollution, and catastrophic trying to go back to the unfettered, uncaring climate change are worsening. We six-and-a- era of the robber barons in the late nineteenth half-billion too-clever apes are solely to blame. century. This revolution is both philosophical Despite impressive successes here and there, and practical. Bad as this is, the radical-right is the overall state of Nature continues to decline. also dedicated to shredding science, particularly This is simple reality, despite the scolding we biology, and time-traveling back to before the hear not to be doom-and-gloomers. Enlightenment. Power of the Anticonservationists While the United States is an extraordinary political case, elsewhere some of the sup- In the United States, the federal government posedly most civilized nations on the planet, has become the sworn enemy of conservation. such as Canada, Norway, and Japan, are again waging nineteenth-century crusades against wild Nature: frontier-forest mining, slaugh- ter of troublesome animals (such as seals, wolves, bears), and commercial whaling, just for starters. Japanese, European, Chinese, and American businesses are looting the last wild places for timber, pulp, wildlife, minerals, and 4 The Blue Ridge Wilderness oil, opening up such places to further habitat 5 Otero Mesa Petroglyph Outing destruction and bushmeat hunting by local 6 Offroad Vehicle Update people. 7 Governor Announces Otero Mesa Suit Although the radical-right control of the U.S. 7 On The Road With Nate Small Presidency and Congress was gained by a 8 Native Plants More Than Beautiful very small margin in 2004 (no mandate), it is 8 Incompatibility backed by powerful and popular forces and by 11 New Mexico Wildlands Map a shocking descent into prescientific irrationality by large sections of the public. 12 Tools of the Effective Advocate 13 Get Involved Appeasement and Weakness 14 Business For Wilderness in the Conservation and 15 Hike Environmental Movements new mexico 16 Letters To NMWA The efforts to protect wild Nature and to clean 17 Traps: Drift Nets of the Forest up pollution face internal subversion from the 18 Young Voices right and left that leads to deep compromises not only on issues but also on fundamental WILD! 18 Wilderness Goes To College principles. We can stuff these calls to compro- SPRING 2005 19 Volunteer Profile mise into several boxes, including sustainable New Mexico WILD! Page 3 development, resourcism, Nature nomic collapse because of fewer may not adequately protect existing deconstruction, politically correct young people. We are essentially wilderness. This encouragement of progressivism, and anthropocentric silent in response to this cornu- appeasement is based on a desire environmentalism. copian madness. Similarly, the to pass bills, and an overreaction conservation and environmental to the narrow victory of the radical First, some brief definitions: movements in general shy away right in the 2004 election. Another conservation is the movement to from acknowledging the reality of source for this push to compro- protect and restore wildlands and Main Office human-caused mass extinction. mise is the fuzzyheaded wish that 505/843-8696 • fax 505/843-8697 wildlife (Nature for its own sake); If we don’t even clearly state the if people only talk together, every- [email protected] • www.nmwild.org resourcism or resource conserva- problem, how can we do anything thing can be worked out. P.O. Box 25464 Albuquerque, NM 87125 tion is the resource extraction ide- about it? ology of the U.S. Forest Service Several bright young men Las Cruces Field Office 275 N. Downtown Mall and other agencies (multiple- have gained a disturbing amount Las Cruces, NM 88001 use/sustained yield); environ- of attention with their recent 505/527-9962 mentalism is the campaign to speeches about the “death” of Mission Statement clean up pollution for human environmentalism. Insofar as The New Mexico Wilderness Alliance is health and make cities livable. they consider Nature protection dedicated to the protection, restoration, and at all, they demand that conser- continued enjoyment of New Mexico’s wild lands and Wilderness areas. The radical right has been vationists drop their priorities NMWA Staff disciplined about thinking and to focus on social justice and acting for the long term; we Las Cruces Office other anthropocentric progres- Jeff Steinborn, Southern NM Director have failed in part because we sive causes. Overall, they call Alberto Zavala, Grassroots Organizer do not have a long-term strategy Albuquerque Office on environmental organizations Tisha Broska, Membership Coordinator to which we stick. to essentially go out of business Stephen Capra, Executive Director and just become part of the pro- Tripp Killin, Associate Director Internationally since the Nathan Newcomer, Grassroots Organizer 1980s, conservation efforts to gressive wing within the Demo- Roxanne Pacheco, Finance Manager cratic Party. The overwhelming Michael Scialdone, Director of Wilderness protect wildlands and habitat by Protection means of national parks, game identification of environmental- Trisha London, Membership & Grassroots Assistant reserves, and other protected ism with the progressive movement and the Democratic Party areas have been severely com- Board of Directors promised as financial-aid agen- is a key reason that it lacks cred- Wes Leonard, El Paso, TX (Chair) ibility with much of the Ameri- Bob Howard, Santa Fe, NM (V.Chair) cies and even some top interna- Tom Mouck, Albuquerque, NM (Treasurer) can public. Kathy Love, Albuquerque, NM (Secretary) tional conservation groups have Pam Eaton, Denver, CO shifted to promoting so-called Dave Foreman, Albuquerque, NM Just as there has been a dis- Todd Hotchkiss, Albuquerque, NM sustainable development and turbing shift in attitudes among Greg Kroll, El Rito, NM community-based conservation. Carlos Provencio, Bayard, NM large segments of the Ameri- Melissa Savage, Santa Fe, NM Although these approaches are can public, so have there been Todd Schulke, Silver City, NM sometimes sound conservation William Stone, Albuquerque, NM problematic changes among Bob Tafanelli, Las Cruces, NM tactics, in practice they have members of the conservation Rick Wiedenmann, Carlsbad, NM elbowed Nature into second public. To be blunt, many of the Newsletter Staff place. This establishment under- Tisha Broska, Managing Editor employees and activists with Joe Adair, Design Editor cutting of Nature conservation conservation groups are igno- Alberto Zavala, Spanish Translation has been joined by the leftist rant of our history and have not The Artists passion of some anthropolo- We can also see a shift in the U.S. read the classic books of conser- Cover photo by W. Stone, Aldo Leopold photo gists and other social engineers from NM State Record Center, Bergere Collection, from conservation to resourcism vation.

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