Bravo! Udall, Bingaman Introduce Organ Mountains Desert Peaks Wilderness Act

Stephen Capra, NM Wilderness Alliance, discusses bill

Sportsmen, business owners, conservationists, local elected officials and other community members hailed the introduction Thursday of The Organ Mountains – Desert Peaks Wilderness Act, by Senator Jeff Bingaman and Senator Tom Udall. The measure will protect nearly 400,000 acres of public land in Dona Ana County, by designating 271,050 acres as wilderness and creating a 109,600-acre National Conservation Area around the Organ and Doña Ana Mountains and parts of Broad Canyon, according to a joint statement released by a variety of groups that support the legislation.

“We applaud Senators Bingaman and Udall for helping ensure that more of New Mexico’s spectacular natural lands will be around for our children’s children to use and enjoy,” said Las Cruces Mayor Ken Miyagishima. “This legislation follows years of discussion and collaboration with community members with many different interests and concerns.”

Bonnie Burn, President of the League of Women Voters of Las Cruces, added, “We all share the goal of protecting Doña Ana County’s unique and precious open areas which are key to our quality of life.”

“This important conservation bill comes as the nation celebrates the 45th anniversary of the Wilderness Act and the development of the nation’s wilderness preservation system,” said Stephen Capra, executive director of the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance.

“The Organ Mountains – Desert Peaks Wilderness Act will ensure that our grandchildren can hunt in and enjoy these areas as we have done,” said Sandy Schemnitz, President of the Southwest Consolidated Sportsmen. “A New Mexico sportsman – Aldo Leopold – first began the idea of wilderness to preserve the hunting he’d come to love in the Gila. Today, Doña Ana County sportsmen are delighted that this legislation will help us pass down our traditions.”

“Today is an exciting day,’” said John Munoz, of the Hispano Chamber of Commerce. “We’re beginning to understand that wilderness can attract visitors to come here to camp, hike, hunt, explore — as well as raise families and open businesses.”

“Our wild places truly make New Mexico the ‘Land of Enchantment.’ This important new bill will help ensure more of it will stay just as it is,” said Don Patterson, of the Back Country Horsemen. “We urge Congress to pass this common sense conservation bill soon, and send it to the president.”

A 2009 poll of Doña Ana County residents by Hamilton Campaigns found that a majority of residents favor protecting local wilderness areas. Beginning in 2006, the municipalities of Las Cruces, Sunland Park, Mesilla and the Doña Ana County Commission adopted resolutions supporting protection of local wilderness areas.

The bill crafted by the Senators contains less wilderness than conservationists had proposed. It includes an amazing array of natural landscapes—from the spires of the iconic Organ Mountains to petroglyph lined cliffs in the Broad Canyon Country. Other areas to be protected include the Potrillo Mountains, Sierra de Las Uvas Mountains, Broad Canyon, and the Robledo Mountains as federal Wilderness Areas, and the foothills of the Organ Mountains, the Doña Ana Mountains, and parts of Broad Canyon as a National Conservation Area.