Event Description
We have been fighting for years to protect New Mexico’s greatest wild places.
Now is a critical moment– our government is primed to listen.
Will you help us speak out?
Please join us this Saturday at the Pyramid Marriott for a Public Listening Session on the President’sAmerica’s Great Outdoors Initiative. This is a once-in-a-lifetime, historical opportunity for you to speak directly to America’s top land management officials about the wild places that matter to you.
President Obama established America’s Great Outdoors Initiative in April to develop a conservation and recreation agenda for the 21st Century that reconnects Americans with our Great Outdoors, and to take action to preserve, restore and protect vital natural treasures.
Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, the head of the Bureau of Reclamation, and other principals from the Department of Interior, US Dept. of Agriculture, and EPA will be in attendance this Saturday to listen to local opinions regarding the restoration and conservation of America’s natural and cultural resources. Comment and breakout sessions will be held from 1:30 to 4:00.
Please contact us ASAP if you’re interested in helping us make phone calls to NMWA members.
We will provide talking points to anyone interested in attending or phone banking.
We need a big turnout, and we’re encouraging everyone to attend!
Join us to help protect these key elements of our state’s natural heritage:
OTERO MESA, ONE OF AMERICA’S NATIONAL TREASURES
With one of the largest desert grasslands left in North America and a half million acres of potential wilderness, Otero Mesa provides habitat for 1000+ native wildlife species and holds vast freshwater resources including the Salt Basin Aquifer.
We want Otero Mesa to be protected as America’s next National Monument. Monument designation would protect the area’s natural and cultural resources, including existing use by ranchers and farmers. Oil and gas exploration should not be allowed to degrade this national treasure and jeopardize our communities’ health and safety. For more information, visit
http://www.oteromesa.org/
OMNIBUS LANDS BILL
to include: DOÑA ANA COUNTY WILDERNESS AND NATIONAL CONSERVATION AREAS
Last year, the Senate designated more than two million acres of federally-owned land as wilderness. What had been 160 separate bills were lumped into the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009. We are hoping a similar vehicle will be used again by this Congress to designate lands throughout New Mexico as Wilderness and National Conservation Areas.
The areas proposed for protection in Doña Ana County are encompassed in the ORGAN MOUNTAINS-DESERT PEAKS
WILDERNESS ACT, totaling more than 259,000 acres of wilderness and 100,000 acres of National Conservation Area. These regions of Chihuahuan high desert demonstrate outstanding recreation characteristics, and are home to the endangered Mexican Wolf and Aplomado Falcon. For more information, please click here to visit our website.
The EL RIO GRANDE DEL NORTE NATIONAL CONSERVATION AREA will protect 236,000 acres in Northern New Mexico, including Ute Mountain and the Rio San Antonio Gorge. This area hosts pristine piñon-juniper woodlands and sagebrush steppe, and is at the heart of the Rio Grande Migratory Flyway, a major route for migratory birds this side of the globe.
For more information, click here to visit our website.
