First let me say thank you for your continued generosity to help us in our fight to protect New Mexico’s wildest public lands.

Having just returned from Washington, DC, I want to give you a sense of our new reality. Senator Bingaman may be retiring, but he is moving forward with Wilderness legislation on a statewide level. We have also made clear in meeting with our congressional delegation and high-ranking officials in the Interior Department that we must move forward with National Monument designation for Otero Mesa and other vital wilderness-quality lands in our state.

Throughout the world people are hitting the streets looking for power, freedom and respect. Only now are their voices being heard. In New Mexico, our voice is still not being heard on conservation issues. Our Democratic representatives, while always voting in support of conservation, have remained quiet while Congressman Pearce is demanding the removal of wolves from the Gila. In fact, this Friday, with his tea party supporters, Pearce is holding a rally in Silver City to demand that off-road vehicles have free reign in the Gila and, to end the Endangered Species Act!

All of this stretches our resources to the brink as we are forced to defend the lands we all love. Wolves belong in the wild, all across the West! New Wilderness designation should occur more often than every 2-5 years. We need our representatives to understand that people in New Mexico want protected public lands, not a landscape scarred by roads and saturated by groundwater contamination from poorly regulated oil and gas development.

Let’s not forget that we are the land of Aldo Leopold and the first state to gain Wilderness designation. New Mexico is the home of environmental heroes like Dave Foreman, who understand the importance of not just protecting lands, but also preserving their connectivity.

Moving forward, we will be bold, not apologetic– but we need your help. So please, on this final day of our online fundraiser, find a way to help our land and the native wildlife that calls it home.
Again, thank you for your generosity, and we hope to see you on the trail soon.

For Wilderness,

Stephen Capra
Executive Director
New Mexico Wilderness Alliance

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