Public Lands

A series of hikes is begin offered in October and November 2010 to increase awareness about the San Juan Basin Badlands and the need to protect these special lands. Please contact Mike Richie at mrichie@comcast.net to sign up for these hikes.

August 5 - U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman today announced that a bill he introduced with Senator Tom Udall to transfer management of the Valles Caldera National Preserve to the National Park Service has cleared its first hurdle. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee passed it.

The Chapter has been strongly supporting the effort by Caldera Action to transfer management of the Valles Caldera from the Valles Caldera Trust to the National Park Service, which has the experience and resources to better manage the Preserve. We are delighted to announce that on May 27, Senators Jeff Bingaman and Tom Udall introduced legislation to transfer the management of the Valles Caldera National Preserve to the National Park Service.

This spring President Obama created the America’s Great Outdoors Initiative. This weekend leaders from the Department of Interior, Department of Agriculture, and the Environmental Protection Agency met with New Mexicans in Albuquerque to learn about our views of this program. This is my viewpoint on this issue.

• We should all increase our use of the world-class outdoors opportunities that exist here in New Mexico.
• The Federal government should provide new, expanded, and better protected public lands.
• Increase opportunities for youth in the Great Outdoors.
• Support local economies by investing in public lands.
• Manage all public lands to comprehend climate change.

A coalition of environmental organizations is forming to protect the San Juan Basin Badlands. An initial meeting was held on June 15 that was attended by representatives of the Sierra Club, Wilderness Society, New Mexico Wilderness Association, Native Plant Society, BLM, Congressional staffers, and Michael Richie.

New Mexico lost three of its most respected conservationists this year....Stewart Udall, Marilyn Cooper, and Gail Ryba.

Our goal is to have Congress designate the Columbine Hondo Wilderness Study Area as a full fledged Wilderness, in order to preserve the ecological, cultural and recreational values of this magnificent and life-giving watershed for future generations.

The Pajarito Group partners with Caldera Action to advocate for increased access to, as well as the restoration and protection of, the Valles Caldera National Preserve (VCNP). For years, Caldera Action has worked for better management of VCNP, from science-based management to restricted development of roads and hotels – always with the view to stay true to VCNP’s mandate to protect our public treasure. Toward these ends, Caldera Action has been working to get the VCNP redesignated as a National Park Preserve.

Our Rio Grande Chapter, along with many other organizations and Sierra Club chapters, helped sponsor the Western Wilderness Conference, held April 8-11 in Berkeley, California. It was a very rewarding experience to be amongst a large number of enthusiastic fighters for wilderness and other public lands protection, a large number of whom have been involved for many, many years.

The next time you see an ATV, dirt bike, or other off-highway vehicle (OHV) in violation of state OHV laws, take the time to gather some information and call the state’s new toll-free OHV Violations Hotline: 800/366-4868.