Senator Jeff Bingaman, Chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, today introduced the "El Rio Grande Del Norte National Conservation Area Establishment Act," to conserve and protect some 235,000 acres northwest of Taos, New Mexico, as a conservation area, including more than 21,000 acres of designated wilderness. Senator Tom Udall is an original cosponsor. "It is fitting that Senator Bingaman chose the week we celebrate Earth Day to introduce this conservation measure," said Jim Mathews, a Washington representative for the Campaign for America's Wilderness. "His bill will protect some of America's original earth, including the iconic Ute Mountain -- for all time." The bill will designate about 13,500 acres of the Ute Mountain area as the Cerro del Yuta wilderness, and approximately 8,000 acres as the San Antonio wilderness.
"Wilderness is vital to the economy -- its scenery attracts visitors and its clean water feeds the rivers that feed the irrigation canals," said Mathews. "Wilderness makes possible the lifestyle the people of New Mexico have enjoyed for generations. It's the ‘bank' from which they hike, hunt, fish, and explore. Senator Bingaman's bill will ensure that this land will stay as it is for our grandchildren and theirs to experience and enjoy."
The legislation will also give protection to the Rio Grande Gorge -- which at places is 150 feet across with the Rio Grande River some 200 feet below. Its wild western plateau hosts grass and sagebrush mesas where herds of pronghorn and elk forage in the winter and calve in the spring. The area is also one of the great migratory routes in world, as the Gorge walls offer nesting places to falcons, eagles and hawks.
