Wilderness News

U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman today reported that the Energy and Natural Resources Committee unanimously approved a bill that protects the Organ Mountains of Dona Ana County. Bingaman and Senator Tom Udall are sponsors of the bill. 

"In order to assure that an increasing population, accompanied by expanding settlement and growing mechanization, does not occupy and modify all areas in the United States ... , leaving no lands designated for preservation and protection in their natural condition, it is hereby declared to be the policy of Congress to secure for the American people of this and future generations the benefits of an enduring resource of wilderness."

It has been five years since the debate about wilderness in Doña Ana County began in earnest. These discussions have taken many twists and turns but, thankfully, have resulted in the development of a sound and widely supported proposal for protecting sensitive wildands in our community.

As a wilderness supporter, I am proud to participate in a diverse coalition of organizations and citizens who have fought for the vision of protecting the Organ Mountains and nearby public lands.

An isolated area from high in the Mendocino National Forest in the north down to Lake Berryessa in the south is being considered for designation as a national conservation area.

Out of the 436,077 acres proposed for the area known as Berryessa Snow Mountain, 42,190 acres are located in Glenn County. The proposed area also includes land in Colusa, Lake, Yolo, Napa, Mendocino and Solano counties.

Sarah McCollum and other members of the Larimer County Youth Conservation Corps know the value of public lands.

They said they've been shedding a lot of sweat restoring tundra near the Alpine Visitor Center at Rocky Mountain National Park, and they'd like other kids to have access to spectacular public lands, too, through better outdoor education programs in public schools and other incentives to get kids outside.

For nearly a decade I have worked with Idahoans to solve land management issues in central Idaho.  In 10 years, it's easy for the facts to become distorted and the issues that prompted action in the first place to be overlooked. 

So let's look at the facts: The Central Idaho Economic Development and Recreation Act (CIEDRA) is an Idaho solution crafted by Idahoans, not federal bureaucrats or outside interests-right down to compromising on which trails to close and which to keep open. 

This spring, President Barack 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. 

Four centuries ago, my ancestors came to New Mexico to farm and ranch in the Rio Grande Valley. Over the generations they moved north to Colorado's San Luis Valley, where they settled the ranch where I grew up.

On our ranch, my seven brothers and sisters and I were in the outdoors every day, working in the fields, tending to the cattle, or watching the birds pass overhead in their migrations.

Like many in the West, we learned that our livelihoods depended on the health of land and the stewardship values Americans have passed from generation to generation.

In another life, I was a wilderness ranger, and to this day there's a certain trail in a certain wilderness where I am most at peace with myself and with the world.

Over a decade of hard work has gone into making CIEDRA a fair and effective bill to protect the Boulder-White Clouds for Idahoans. The bill accounts for diverse recreational interests and local economies, and it preserves more than 330,000 acres. The area certainly warrants wilderness designation with its spectacular peaks, headwaters, wildlife and pristine habitat. Passage of this bill is the sensible and responsible thing to do.