New Mexico WILD—THE NEWSLETTER OF THE NEW MEXICO WILDERNESS ALLIANCE VOLUME X, NUMBER I— SPRING 2008 WILDERNESS! why we fight. New Mexico WILD! Page 1 stephen capra, executive director new mexico Notes from the WILD! Executive Director SPRING 2008 By Stephen Capra Newsletter With this issue we choose to look a little deeper at wilderness, the core principle of our organization. Wilderness has been a part of the New Mexico landscape of the for more than 80 years. But we have come to understand that the concept of wilderness has been lost to a generation New Mexico or more because of the lack of wilderness designations in the late 80’s and 90’s. For the past year, we have spent a considerable amount of time educating elected officials Wilderness and citizens on the importance and value of designating wilderness on our federal public lands. Alliance The net result has been the introduction of the Sabinoso Wilderness bill and the growing support in the south for our Doña Ana Wilderness proposal and in the north for the El Rio Grande del Norte National Conservation Area. It has also led to broader conversations among the State Land Office, the Bureau of Land Management and the National Park Service about trading lands important to the conservation of Chaco Canyon National Historical Park and the possible designation of wilderness within the park’s boundaries. Guidelines, which were incorporated into every piece of Yet today a radical fringe group of ranchers continue their wilderness legislation since 1990, state that there can be ideological fight to stop wilderness designation in our “no reduction of livestock numbers because of wilderness state, working with groups like the Paragon Foundation designation.” So the very congressional act that this small and even a few professors at New Mexico State University’s group of ranchers is fighting, is the very legislation that Rangeland Improvement Task Force. These well financed gives them a guarantee of staying and working forever on groups wield tremendous power with their multi-million these lands. dollar endowments and are working across our state in the agricultural community and with political leaders. They If the obstacles being created by the radical fringe were not continue to work hard distorting the facts about wilderness enough, we now face another mind-boggling obstruction and misleading elected officials. Their motivation appears from Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn. Mr. Coburn is using to be ideological and tied to their desire to see federal an obscure Senate rule to hold up more than 60 conser- public lands turned over at bargain prices to private vation measures, including appropriations for the Forest ownership. But it is crucial to this debate to remember Service and the Bureau of Land Management, fire safety, that wilderness allows for grazing. In fact, the Grazing landscape protection bills, and historic sites across the country. Mr. Coburn, a physician and self-described fiscal conservative, is putting a HOLD on all bills that require contents federal funding of any kind. The action of a Senator putting a hold on a bill has been common practice, but 3 Wilderness in the West it is almost always restricted to a specific bill affecting 4 Next Question that Senator’s state. This holding pattern has long been 5 ORV and Travel Management Rule Update viewed as a respectful practice, but Coburn has trans- 6 Doña Ana County Update formed this into an abuse of power that is unprecedented 7 Otero Mesa Update in Senate history. In fact, Coburn is now demanding that 8 NMWA Moves to Protect Chaco Canyon guns be permitted in National Parks as one of his condi- 9 Wolves, Jaguars & Polar Bears …Oh my! tions for allowing bills to move forward. For Democrats, 11 Open Space Around Albuquerque holding a simple one-vote majority, these are dicey waters 12-14 Why Wilderness? as some Republicans have indicated they would vote to 15 New Mexico’s Wilderness Potential support Coburn on principle. Both of our Senators have 16 Wilderness and Biodiversity worked on compromises for Coburn but he remains 17 Peter Wirth stubbornly opposed. For Democrats this is becoming a 17 UNMWild - Embracing the Lobo tough mountain to climb. Wilderness bills introduced by 18 Drowning in the 19th Century Republicans and Democrats from Virginia, California, Washington State and New Mexico are all on hold until one 19 Volunteer Service Projects man’s ego is finally reigned in. 20 Keeping Community Alive 21 Wild Style Wilderness remains the best means of protecting our 22 Sponsors wildest public lands and it’s worth remembering that This coyote just finished a Snow goose 23 The Long and Short of It across American more than 107 million acres of public breakfast at Bosque del Apache National land in 44 states are part of this national treasure. Cities Wildlife Refuge. Because people can do them no harm there, they are less skittish. Page 2 Spring 2008 protection for the surrounding landscape only sound you hear is the wind. We need across the West have embraced wilderness but also represents a standard that the places that pry the remote control out of for the quality of life it provides and business community and local citizens our hands, that force us to sweat, and that Fortune 500 businesses take into account understand as a beacon for quality of life.” demand that we remember the concept of recreation for their employees when they self-reliance. We need places where we are consider where to relocate. Wilderness In the end, it gets back to our need for a visitor and not a resident, where a warm Main Office protects the precious drinking water that wild places. We need places that challenge fire and a few good friends can make for 505/843-8696 • fax 505/843-8697 so many communities depend on. In New our imagination and our senses. In our [email protected] • www.nmwild.org an exceptional evening, where a summer P.O. Box 25464, Albuquerque, NM 87125 Mexico, Senator Domenici has personally busy, crazy, crowded lives, we need wild shower in the desert fills our senses with been responsible for the designation of Las Cruces Field Office landscapes where we can hike, camp, breath the smell of creosote. It’s the craving of our 275 N. Downtown Mall close to one million acres of wilderness in Las Cruces, NM 88001 clean air, watch wolves and run with bears. wild spirit and wilderness is the tonic. We our state and in his final year in office may 505/527-9962 We need places where you can take your will fight hard to protect it. well add to his conservation legacy. Mayor Santa Fe Field Office children and introduce them to a star-filled 341 E Alameda St David Coss of Santa Fe recently wrote, “In a sky; places where a cold plunge in a river Santa Fe, NM 87501 505/216-9719 city like ours, wilderness not only provides shocks our senses; and lands where the Taos Field Office 108B Civic Plaza DrIve Taos, NM 87571 505/751-7309 Mission Statement The New Mexico Wilderness Alliance is dedicated to the protection, restoration, and continued enjoyment of New Mexico’s wildlands and Wilderness areas. NMWA Staff Albuquerque Office Stephen Capra, Executive Director Tripp Killin, Associate Director Nathan Newcomer, Grassroots Organizer Tisha Broska, Membership Coordinator Roxanne Pacheco, Finance Manager Michael Scialdone, Director of Wilderness Protection Trisha London, Membership & Grassroots Assistant Craig Chapman, Special Events Coordinator Carlsbad Office Steve West, Southeast Director Las Cruces Office Jeff Steinborn, Southern Director Nathan Small, Wilderness Protection Coordinator Santa Fe Office David Ehrman, Outreach Coordinator Taos Office Jim O’Donnell, Northern Director Wilderness in the West Board of Directors Wes Leonard, Albuquerque, NM (Chair) Dave Parsons, Albuquerque, NM (Treasurer) We have compiled, with the help of the tremendous website wilderness.net, the number of wilderness areas Randy Gray (Vice Chair), Lake Valley, NM Christianne Hinks, Albuquerque, NM in each western state along with a total acreage count. In addition, we thought it was important to create a Nancy Morton, Albuquerque, NM Tom Mouck, Albuquerque, NM list of cities and communities that border or are within an hour of a wilderness area in the west. The list is Nancy Murray, Albuquerque, NM Todd Schulke, Silver City, NM not exact, simply a snapshot, and many communities were left out because of space considerations. What it Bob Tafanelli, Las Cruces, NM clearly demonstrates is that wilderness is part of our western heritage and that no matter where you travel Rick Wiedenmann, Carlsbad, NM Newsletter Staff you may well find yourself in a community that has made wilderness part of its quality of life. Tisha Broska, Managing Editor Joe Adair, Design Editor James Broska, Copy Editor WILDERNESS IS EVERYWHERE! What is Wilderness? The Wilderness Act of 1964 North Dakota has 3 Wilderness areas. Total Acreage 39,652 established the National Wilderness Preservation System Communities: Belfield • Lostwood • Kenmare • Watford City • Jamestown to preserve the last remaining wildlands in America. The Wilderness Act, as federal policy, secures “an enduring resource South Dakota has 2 Wilderness areas. Total Acreage 77,520 of wilderness” for the people. Communities: Rapid City • Wall Wilderness is defined as an area that has primarily been affected by the forces of nature with the imprint of humans substantially California has 137 Wilderness areas. Total Acreage 14,335,873 unnoticeable. It is an area that Communities: Weaverville • Redding • Cedarville • Red Bluff • Mammoth Lakes • Bishop • Truckee offers outstanding opportunity Happy Camp • Crescent City • Stovepipe Wells • Santa Barbara • San Luis Obispo • Monterey for solitude or a primitive or San Francisco • Los Angeles • San Bernardino • Twentynine Palms unconfined type of recreation, and an area that contains ecological, geological, or other features of scientific, educational, Colorado has 41 Wilderness areas.