More Wilderness for New Mexico?

By Rebecca Powell, 6-11-08



	Gila Wilderness

Representative Tom Udall’s (D) Sabinosa Wilderness Act passed the U.S. House of Representatives Monday, according to the blog Democracy for New Mexico. If the bill passes the Senate it will bring New Mexico’s wilderness areas to 1,641,443 acres.

The Bill proposes that 17,600 acres located near Las Vegas, New Mexico be set aside for wilderness.

Udall also authored the Valle Vidal Protection Act of 2005, which withdrew 101,794 acres in the Sangro De Cristo Mountains from mineral leasing.

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By Rebecca Powell, 6-11-08 | comments (3) | email story | print story

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Comments

By ncp, 6-11-08

if the bill passes what does it do to new mexico's ranchers and farmers

By monty, 6-11-08

ncp: New Mexico encompasses 77,669,760 acres, setting aside 17,600 acres of unproductive dry mountain top, that should never had cattle on it in the first place, is not a big deal. They probably "grandfathered" in the grazing rights if it still has domestic livestock. If you are worried about the down trodden poor & middle class, tell your congreesman & senator to stop giving tax breaks to the rich & stop spending 3 billon a week in Iraq..

By Rebecca, 6-12-08

Actually Monty, the Sabinoso area does contain bottom land and grass. I do not know if grazing is permitted.

See the New Mexico Wilderness description below: "Grasses in the unit include black, sideoats, blue, and hairy grama; galleta; little bluestem; wolftail; Indian rice grass; and vine mesquite. The unit's diversity of habitats, from forests to cliffs to riparian bottomlands."
nmwild.org/campaigns/sabinoso

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