Burro Basin is shown Wednesday during a New Mexico Wilderness Alliance flyover of some roadless areas of the Carson National Forest and Pecos Wilderness in the Santa Fe National Forest. The flight was conducted to bring awareness to the landscapes in Northern New Mexico that are vying for further protection. – Luis Sánchez Saturno/The New Mexican

State pushes to protect wild lands:
Advocates promote roadless areas

Staci Matlock | The New Mexican
Posted: Wednesday, August 11, 2010
VIEW THE ORIGINAL POST on the Santa Fe New Mexican website

New Mexico has joined a dozen other states in promoting roadless areas in national forests that are protected by a controversial national 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule.

The rule, which protects 58 million acres around the country, was overturned by former President George Bush in 2005. Legislation has been proposed in Congress to make the rule law.

The Pecos Wilderness in the Santa Fe National Forest, encompassing Truchas Peak, is one of New Mexico’s protected wild lands and roadless areas. Another area that advocates, including the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance, want to see permanently protected is the Columbine Hondo Wilderness Study Area northeast of Taos in the Carson National Forest.

The state has dozens of wilderness and wilderness study areas. New Mexico is home to the first wilderness area in the country — the Gila — proposed by conservationist Aldo Leopold and established by the U.S. Congress in 1924.

New Mexico has added a couple of new wilderness areas in the last decade.

The 11,183-acre Ojito Wilderness was established in 2005. The 16,000-acre Sabinoso Wilderness was approved by Congress in 2009.

Gov. Bill Richardson declared this week Roadless Recreation Week to highlight the importance of the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, issued to protect nearly 60 million acres of pristine national forests across the country.

For more information, see www.nmwild.org.