Democracy for New Mexico

Attend or Volunteer for a Defenders of Wildlife Event

From Lisa Hummond, Defenders of Wildlife NM:
I am very excited to announce that Defenders is organizing our first ever lobby trip to DC! I am leaving on Sunday with three fellow New Mexicans to lobby our Congressional members on a variety of issues including the Farm Bill, climate change, funding for conservation, and the Mexican wolf reintroduction program. Wish us luck!

Below is a list of activities Defenders is participating in for the rest of May. I've noted those events for which I am looking for volunteers. And of course, you are more than welcome to just come check out any of the events.

Thursday, May 17
An Inconvenient Truth Presentation
Sponsored by Eco RealEstate
Location: The Source, Carlisle and Anderson, Abq
Time: 7:00 PM

Friday, May 18
An Inconvenient Truth Presentation
Sponsored by NM Green Building Council
Location: UNM theater, Student Union Bldg, Abq
Time: TBA

Saturday, May 19
Earth Day Celebration
Location: Sandia Pueblo lakes (near Los Amigos Roundup)
Time: 9:00 AM -- 2:00 PM
Details: We will have a table at this event.
**volunteers**

Saturday, May 19
Habitat Planting and Open House
Location: Dragon Farm, South Valley Academy, Abq
Time: 2:00 -- 5:00 PM We'll be planting native vegetation to increase the wildlife value on the farm. Should be fun!
**volunteers**

Wednesday, May 30
Presentation on the Mexican wolf reintroduction program
Location: Las Colinas Retirement Village, Abq
Time: 10:30 AM
Details: This presentation isn't really open to the public, but let me know if you'd like to attend.

Many thanks!  Hope to see you at one or more of these events!

Lisa Hummon
New Mexico Outreach Representative
Defenders of Wildlife
824 Gold SW
Albuquerque, NM  87102
Phone: (505) 248-0118 x5
Fax: (505) 248-0187

www.defenders.org, www.biodiversitypartners.org

Mark Your Calendars for WildFest 2007

From the NM Wilderness Alliance:
WildFest 2007 Wilderness Festival & Summer Equipment Swap: The New Mexico Wilderness Alliance presents the 1st annual WildFest to be held Saturday and Sunday May 19th and 20th at our new office at 142 Truman NE in Albuquerque. There will be booths by vendors to promote sustainable Wilderness entertainment. A Summer Gear Swap, clean out the garage and sell the old equipment so you can buy new. Live music, speakers, and contests. How-to seminars on leaving no trace, packing light, intro to map reading and wilderness first aid among others. Mark your calendars and plan to attend, for more info check out the website. Click to join our email list.

Guest Blog: National Conservation Area Proposed for Taos County

This is a guest blog by Jim O’Donnell, Northern Director, New Mexico Wilderness Alliance:

One of the wildest places in New Mexico can be found in Taos County.

The area is massive, sprawling over more than 300,000 acres. How you name it depends on who you talk to. I label it by a group of individual names: Rio Grande Gorge, Ute Mountain, Sunshine Valley, Wild Rivers, Cerro de la Olla, Cerro Chiflo, Rio San Antonio, Cerro del Aire...other names are Windmill, the Punche Valley, el llano, Upper Gorge, Lower Gorge, Rio Grande Corridor, the Ute Mountain Run...the challenge in naming it has all to do with its size and diversity – as does the challenge in describing it.

So, lets begin with the river.

The Labatos Bridge marks the beginning of the Rio Grande Gorge. The bridge can be found in Colorado where the Rio Grande begins its cut into the Servilleta lava flows that make up the Taos Plateau. Eight miles later, at the New Mexico state line, the river is 200 feet down, the gorge 150 feet across. West of Questa, where Big Arsenic Spring bubbles from the rock and pinyon jays heap in the winter, the river is a glinting green ribbon eight hundred feet down. The opposite rim is over half a mile away where, on summer mornings, bald eagles soar southward in pairs. At John Dunn Bridge the river enters The Box, an 18-mile stretch of 900 foot cliffs, famous among boaters.

This is also the Rio Grande Migratory Flyway – one of the great migratory routes in the world. Eagles, falcons and hawks make the basalt walls of the Gorge their nesting homes. Ospreys, scaups, hummingbirds, herons, avocets, merlins and willits all traverse the Gorge. The sound of Sandhill Cranes migrating from the San Luis Valley to places like Bosque Del Apache can be deafening while on an October hike in the tablelands west of the river.

It’s that western plateau that is perhaps the most wild. From the edge of the Gorge, vast grass and sagebrush mesas intersperse with the forested slopes of volcanic intrusions such as Cerro Chiflo, Cerro del Aire, Montosos and Cerro de la Olla. It is on these mesas where vast herds of pronghorn and elk find winter forage and calve and fawn along the rim late in the spring. A rancher swore to me he’d heard a wolf howl out there just a few years ago.

This substantial chunk of wild is bounded by the Gorge Rim on the east and Highway 285 on the west. The northern portion spills over 285, encompassing the broad, gently rolling grass and sage brush plains of the Rio San Antonio Gorge WSA, bisected by yet another gorge where raptors next in 200-foot high lava walls and conifers clamber down to the Rio los Pinos.

Perhaps the crown jewel of this whole area is Ute Mountain, a 10,093 foot high volcanic cone rising nearly 3,000 feet above the surrounding plain. Ute is something you can’t miss. Located about ten miles west of Costilla, it is the dominate feature for those driving north from Taos along highway 522.

The steep slopes of Ute are covered in pinyon at the base, as well as pockets of ponderosa, aspen, white pine and Douglas Fir in the higher elevations. From grassy meadows of blue grama, western wheatgrass and Indian ricegrass where the trees thin, the Gorge is a jagged, inky slash dividing Ute from its sister cones to the west. Snow-capped Blanca rises to the north, just across the state line. The whole Sangre de Cristo range falls to the east, terminating, view-wise, at Wheeler Peak. There are people here too. Lupe, Bobby, Esther, Rudy, Ron, Dennis....

Descendants of the land grantees run cattle all along the Gorge and out into the table-lands between the rim and Highway 285. Vehicle routes tend towards sparse and are more likely than not unmaintained two-tracks. Hunting and fishing are common. Hikers climb to the bottom of the gorge for a swim and a picnic. The Box is a popular rafting area and bird watching draws – well, not as many as it ought to. Its fabulous birding! On the slopes of Cerro de la Olla, locals collect firewood to heat their homes in the winter.

This is wild land, important to the culture and character of our county and vital, in its wildness, to our economy. We learned two main lessons during the battles over the Valle Vidal: one, no chunk of public land is secure from mineral development or other forms of exploitation – no matter how safe you may think that land is, no matter how ‘lacking’ in exploitative possibilities it may be, someone, sometime is going to come after that land. Our other lesson was this: our economy in north-central New Mexico is dependant on Wilderness. Wilderness feeds the rivers that feed the acequias. It nurtures our rural lifestyle. Wilderness is the ‘bank’ from which we hunt and fish. It is also a tremendous economic development opportunity. Perhaps most importantly, these wildlands create and nurture the character of the people of Taos County. The Bureau of Land Mangement (BLM) manages the whole thing. This is public land. Our land.

It is invaluable.

For over a year now, the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance has been in discussion with the BLM and Senator Bingaman’s office to find a way to give this massive area the protection it deserves. We have wide-ranging support on this effort from the ranching community, the local elected officials, the acequias, the sportsmen community, the boaters and the biologists.

Any day now, Senator Bingaman will introduce legislation to assure the wild character of this land through a National Conservation Area (NCA) designation. The highlights of this legislation will be the placement of Ute Mountain and the Rio San Antonio Gorge within the Wilderness system.

The goals of this legislation are clear. We want to preserve the rural character of Taos County. We want to protect and encourage traditional uses of the area such as ranching, hunting, fishing and wood-gathering. Private lands within the boundaries would not be affected in any way. Restrictions on development of private lands will remain subject to local/county ordinances.

With this legislation, we seek to ensure a vibrant economic future that values our natural, scenic and cultural resources.

Most Taosenos seek a new vision for economic sustainability that relies on local agriculture, renewable energy, green building and small business. The NCA would support this kind of economic future.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

1. Call Senator Bingaman and thank him for this magnificent effort: 505-224-5521
2. Call AND write to Senator Domenici’s office. Tell the Senator that you just heard about the Taos County National Conservation Area (NCA) proposal and that you would like for him to co-sponsor the bill from the moment it is introduced. Be sure to follow up your call with a letter. SORRY I DO NOT HAVE A BILL NUMBER YET. Call 202-224-6621, Senator Pete V. Domenici, 328 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510-3101
3. Write to one or all of the three newspapers below. Express your support for Senator Bingaman’s Taos County NCA proposal - even if you are from out of state. Be sure to include your name, location and day time phone number.

• Taos News: forum@taosnews.com
• Santa Fe New Mexican: letters@sfnewmexican.com
• Albuquerque Journal: opinion@abqjournal.com

Talking Points
Feel free to include any of your own observations or experiences in the area if you have been there.

• The proposed NCA includes some of the most spectacular scenery in all of New Mexico;
• Existing uses, such as ranching, hunting, fishing and rafting would not be impacted by the creation of the NCA. In fact, those uses would be protected and encouraged;
• The establishment of the proposed NCA and associated Wilderness will provide for future generations of New Mexicans continuing opportunities to enjoy the recreational opportunities to hunt, fish, observe wildlife, and experience solitude;
• Creation of the NCA and Wilderness areas would give local communities a natural attraction and resource to use as part of a long-term sustainable economic development plan;
• The NCA would help protect and ensure valuable water resources;
• The rights of private land owners within the NCA boundaries will be respected if they choose to not trade their land.

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Thanks for your help all! We tried to get something similair done nearly twenty years ago when Richardson was our Congressman but, for a number of reasons, it didnt work out. If we dont get it this time, it will be another twenty years before we'll have another chance.

THANK YOU

Crossposted from UNBOSSED.

Editor's Note: This is a guest blog by Jim O’Donnell, Northern Director, New Mexico Wilderness Alliance. Jim has agreed to contribute occasional guest posts here at DFNM. If you'd like to submit a guest post for consideration, contact me by clicking on the Email Me link at the upper left-hand corner of the page.

Success on Otero Mesa Effort!

From the NM Wilderness Alliance: On Thursday, April 19th, a coalition of ranchers, hunters, conservationists and water experts hosted the Otero Mesa Public Forum in Alamogordo. This event in large part was organized by the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance (NMWA). Almost 200 people from Alamogordo and surrounding communities attended the event to hear about Otero Mesa's fresh water aquifer, the area's wildlife and how oil and gas drilling could impact this special place. The purpose of the event was to bring the community together and demonstrate that southern New Mexicans care about their quality of life, and that a few days' worth of oil and gas will NOT take precedence over water, wildlife, and wilderness.

At one point during the forum, moderator, Rick Simpson (a hunting guide and Lincoln county commissioner) asked the audience "who supported a moratorium on drilling in Otero Mesa" so that a thorough study of the Salt Basin aquifer could occur. Everyone in the room expect for one person raised their hand!

The following day, the Alamogordo Daily News ran a front-page story covering the event. This story was then picked up by the Associated Press and ran in several other papers, including the Albuquerque Journal, Las Cruces Sun-News, and Santa Fe New Mexican. Click to read the full article.

Friday morning, April 20th, the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance brought four of the five speakers from the forum to meet with the Alamogordo Daily News and encourage the paper to editorialize in support of the moratorium. Rancher Tweeti Blancett, wildlife expert and high school teacher Steve West, energy and economics expert Bill Brown, and Craig Roepke with the Interstate Stream Commission all attended the editorial board visit. The outcome was that the next day, the Alamogordo Daily News editorialized in supporting our efforts to call for a moratorium on drilling in Otero Mesa! Click to read the editorial.

Subsequently, Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) sent a letter to Secretary of the Interior, Dirk Kempthorne, requesting that all leasing and drilling be put to a halt so the  U.S. Geological Survey, Sandia National Labs, and Interstate Stream Commission could conduct a thorough study of the Salt Basin aquifer. This is tremendous news. Please call Senator Bingaman and thank him for taking the lead on calling for a moratorium, but urge him to keep fighting to protect Otero Mesa.

It is because of your letters, calls and pressure to our elected officials that we are gaining real traction in our efforts to protect Otero Mesa. Many thanks! This past week was a real watershed moment in the campaign. Now we must begin to aggressively pressure Senator Domenici and Congressman Pearce. Senator Domenici’s staff has indicated that the Senator may be willing to support a moratorium on Otero Mesa. Please help us to make this a reality -- the time is NOW! Please call and fax your letters and comments today.

• Senator Bingaman: (202) 224-5521
• Senator Domenici: (202) 224-6621
• Congresswoman Wilson: (202) 225-6316
• Congressman Pearce: (202) 225-2365
• Congressman Udall: (202) 225-6190
• Send your Free Fax Here!

Make Your Voice Heard and Speak Out for Otero Mesa's Land, Water and Wildlife Today! Click to sign up for alerts from the NM Wild Action Center.

Fragile: Earth Day 2007

Above image courtesy of the Image Science & Analysis Laboratory, NASA Johnson Space Center, AS17-148-22727, from https://eol.jsc.nasa.gov.

"'If people can see Earth from up here, see it without those borders, see it without any differences in race or religion, they would have a completely different perspective. Because when you see it from that angle, you cannot think of your home or your country. All you can see is one Earth...."'

--Anousheh Ansari, Iranian-American space tourist who flew last year to the international space station.

Many are trading their inefficient incandescent light bulbs for energy saving fluorescent bulbs these days. Let's hope we can also trade this dim bulb for one that lights the way to change:

Finally, here's something Sting performed in honor of 9-11 right after it occurred, but I think it could apply to most things happening on the Earth right now, the lives being lived (and those ending) on the planet and maybe even the planet itself. How fragile we are ....

Santa Fe Earth Day Events

From the City of Santa Fe:
Earth Day this Saturday is a time to commemorate gains we have made to protect our planet and to create new momentum for a healthy, sustainable environment. Here is a list of upcoming events for Santa Fe residents to join together in the spirit of Earth Day and beautify our community:

Great American Clean Up: Saturday, April 21, 2007. Registration is from 7 to 9 AM. Trash bags will be provided at the Parks, Trails and Watershed Division Building 1142 Siler Road. Organize a clean up in your neighborhood or clean another area of interest. A volunteer picnic will be held from 12 noon until 2 PM at the Buckman Road Recycling and Transfer Station, 1686 Paseo de Vista.

All Species Day/Earth Day Celebration hosted by Ecoversity: Saturday, April 21, at Frenchy's Field Park. The All Species Day Parade starts at Frenchy’s Field at 11 AM with performers; the parade then makes its way to the Ecoversity campus (2639 Agua Fria) at noon and the celebration goes until sunset.

SFCC Discovery Day: Saturday, April 21, at Santa Fe Community College, from 10 AM to 2 PM. At 10 AM, watch a slide presentation based on “An Inconvenient Truth” given by environmental ambassador Doug Stewart, who was trained by Al Gore. At 11:15 AM, watch a free screening of Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth.” For more information call 428-1604.

FREE Household Hazardous Waste Drop Off Day: Sunday, April 22, 2007 from 9 AM to 4 PM at the Buckman Road Recycling and Transfer Station, 1686 Paseo de Vista. Accepted items include acids, batteries, cleaners, medicines, poisons, paints (latex and oil), photo chemicals, thermometers, smoke detectors, weed killer, auto fluids, insect killers, thinners and solvents. Items that will NOT be accepted include: ammunition, explosives, radioactive waste and commercial wastes.

City of Santa Fe Green Facts:

Did you know that every single one of Santa Fe Trails 25 buses (fixed route fleet) is powered by clean burning compressed natural gas (CNG)?

Did you know that the city has over 40 alternative fuel vehicles in its fleet and that all worn out or failed equipment is replaced with energy star or LEED-approved units?

Did you know that three major city construction projects – the Railyard, civic center and Southside Library – will serve as models for water conservation? All three projects incorporate a mix of water conservation and water harvesting strategies.

Did you know that the City is about to hire a contractor to convert the city code from the Uniform Building Code to the performance-based International Building Code? This conversion is a necessary first step to addressing what green building standards in Santa Fe cold look like.

Did you know that the City of Santa Fe recently established a “Green Team,” an interdepartmental group of city staff that have volunteered to work on “green” goals set by the City Council?

Did you know that the new civic center construction will reflect Santa Fe's leadership in both green design and greenhouse gas reduction? The new building will be constructed to a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Silver rating, a national standard for developing high-performance sustainable buildings. Southside Library and Railyard has water harvesting systems.

Did you know that Santa Fe raised the bar for green design after Santa Fe became the first U.S. city to adopt the Architecture 2030 Challenge? The 2030 Challenge is a national effort to systematically reduce and finally reverse the amount of greenhouse gas emissions created during construction and operation of buildings by the year 2030.

Did you know that as a result of a resolution, introduced by Councilor Matthew Ortiz, Discovery Audits has been conducting an audit of the city’s energy and telecommunication, looking for errors, efficiencies and needs?

Did you know that the City of Santa Fe Water Conservation Office offers rebates for water efficient washing machines and hot water recirculators?

Indigo Girls Shiprock & Flagstaff Concerts to Benefit Fight Against Desert Rock Power Plant

Click on image for larger version or click for PDF of flyer

Honor the Earth and Indigo Girls in the Southwest
There is a great deal of amazing energy justice organizing happening in Native communities in the Southwest. We are excited to announce two benefit shows in Shiprock, New Mexico and Flagstaff, Arizona this May, supporting the efforts of the Desert Rock blockade and the Just Transition Coalition. For more information on Honor the Earth, please check out www.honorearth.org.

05.21.07 - Shiprock, New Mexico

05.22.07 - Flagstaff, Arizona

Honor the Earth Concert in Shiprock Calls for Safe Energy on Native Lands
On Monday night, May 21st, the Grammy Award winning folk-rock duo, Indigo Girls (Amy Ray and Emily Saliers), will take the stage at the Phil L. Thomas Performing Arts Center in Shiprock for a special night of music with a message. The concert, entitled Honor the Earth, is a benefit designed to lend support to grassroots Native groups working to stop the Desert Rock coal plant and herald in a new, safe energy economy, one based on the vast renewable energy potential of Native lands.

The Indigo Girls - Honor the Earth concert will start at 7:00 PM, with doors at 6:00 PM. The acclaimed Hopi reggae band Casper will open the show. Tickets are on sale at the Phil Thomas Performing Arts Center and the Shiprock Trading Center in Shiprock, at Hastings in Farmington, and at Maria's Bookstore in Durango, CO. To charge by phone, call 505.368.2490. Ticket prices range from $20.00 to $30.00.

“The heroic struggle of the Navajo people against coal and uranium mining and for a new, safe energy economy offers a vital and positive vision for all of Indian country, and all of America,” said Winona LaDuke, Executive Director of the national Native environmental group Honor the Earth, which is sponsoring the concert.

“Honor the Earth has worked for decades to support communities protecting their land, water, air and future generations. With this benefit concert, we will continue to stand with the people of Dine Bii Kaya,” stated LaDuke. “Energy does not have to come at the expense of a people’s ecosystem and culture.”

Navajo communities in the Four Corners area have been at a stand off with Sithe Global Power and the Dine Power Authority over the construction of Desert Rock, a 1,500 megawatt minemouth, coal fired power plant that would cost 2.2 billion dollars to build and sit on 580 acres about 30 miles southwest of Farmington.

At a time when tribes, cities, states and nations are working to curb greenhouse gas emissions, the Desert Rock plant would increase them. CO2 emissions from Desert Rock will amount to 10 million metric tons a year, effectively canceling any gains from Governor Bill Richardson’s Executive Order calling for a reduction of 10.5 million metric tons of carbon per year by 2012.

In fact, if Desert Rock becomes operational, it will push the Four Corners area over Federal EPA air quality standards. Asthma, other respiratory diseases and cancers are already rampant in the communities due to toxins spewed by existing power plants, mines, delivery systems and oil and gas wells; a new plant would only add to these adverse impacts.

“It is blatant environmental racism and injustice when you place a third Power Plant in an impoverished community with little or no access to healthcare,” said Lori Goodman of Dine CARE. “For our elders and future generations, we vow to fight this intrusion upon our people's health and way of life.”

The Honor the Earth Indigo Girls concert will not only draw attention to stopping new coal facilities, but also address the overarching issue of global climate change and the urgent need to transition away from an economy based on fossil fuels to one based on renewable energy, like wind and solar power. “We're seeing a change,” said Winona LaDuke, referring to her long term work on energy policy. “People are continuing to say that they want to protect their generations from toxins, but they are also demanding that we all take steps to avert climate collapse.”

The most abundant solar resources in America are in the southwestern states. According to EPA scientists, sufficient solar energy falls in the southwest to provide all of the nation’s electricity at current consumption levels. New photovoltaic technologies, such as concentrated solar power plants, can now produce electricity at a cost competitive to coal, and solar panels produce no CO2 and other pollutants when generating electricity. Such data highlights that Native people’s call for the creation of a renewable energy economy is more than visionary – it is doable.

Emily Saliers of Indigo Girls discussed Honor the Earth’s support for such visionary grassroots action by stating, “We stand in solidarity with Native communities who are fighting toxic and climate changing fossil fuel-based energy on their land. Shifting the current U.S. energy paradigm toward renewable sources is the hope for our future as we come to fully respect and implement the rights of people to breathe clean air, drink clean water, and protect the environment for future generations."

Second Show in Flagstaff May 22
Indigo Girls will perform a second show May 22 in Flagstaff, at the Pine Mountain Amphitheater. The two shows will benefit Operation Desert Rock, Dooda Desert Rock, Diné CARE and the Just Transition Coalition.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
HONOR THE EARTH 612-879-7529 or honorearth@earthlink.net
FOR TALENT INTERVIEWS:
BECKY BODONYI 404-377-9900 or becky@rcam.com

Editor's Note: The Indigo Girls, along with Richie Havens, will also perform at the Santa Fe Opera at 6:30 PM on May 17, billed as  Building a Culture of Peace: A World Peace Concert Event. Click for ticket information. Click for information on the itself, to be held in Santa Fe May 16-17, 2007.

Today: Grand Opening of New NM Wild Office

From the NM Wilderness Alliance:
eo is about opportunity, outreach, diversity, community and about how these aspects of everyday life can help us to understand the positive impact we can have on Global Climate Change. eo is the culmination of EDI, The New Mexico Wilderness Alliance and the Sierra Club's commitment to reducing the negative impact of our buildings on the environment and well being of the human race. eo is the newly renovated and, soon to be, first LEED Gold office building in Albuquerque NM. It is located in the Nob Hill Highland District just off of historic Route 66, at 142 Truman NE.

Come join us on April 13th, from 4:00 to 11:00 PM, to learn about the potential that each of us has to accelerate the transformation of the built environment. Take a guided tour through the site and building, talk to vendors and suppliers, to USGBC NM Chapter members, and watch a video or power point presentation. For more information, please call 505-843-8696.

(Updated) Join the Kerrys at Santa Fe Borders This Saturday (and Rally at Miles Park)

UPDATE: Sen. John Kerry will also be speaking at the environmental rally from 1:00-3:00 PM at Franklin Miles Park in Santa Fe on Saturday, April 14, that's part of the Step It Up climate action campaign. See the Insight New Mexico blog and our previous post on City of Santa Fe events for more info.
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From John Kerry and Teresa Heinz Kerry:
We hope that you can join us on Saturday, April 14 at the Borders Bookstore at 5:00 PM where we will be speaking about our recently released book This Moment on Earth and signing copies. The bookstore is located at 500 Montezuma, Suite 108, Santa Fe, New Mexico. Tickets for this event are available at the door beginning at noon on Saturday.

The environment, and the movement that grew up to protect it, is under attack -- concerted and purposeful. Yet the need for solutions to pressing environmental problems grows more urgent each day. A myriad of environmental problems are occurring in the world today, from contamination of the air and water supply to human-induced global climate change.

We have spoken with people from all over the country to see how these issues unite people across ideological, geographic, and cultural lines. We found a vibrant coalition of people and communities deploying ingenuity, technology, and sheer willpower to save the world they live in. Our new book, This Moment on Earth, celebrates their tremendous efforts.

This book grows out of a long-held passion we've both had about this movement. Throughout the last three decades, we have both dedicated ourselves to improving our environment -- from joining efforts to fight acid rain, to fighting for United States participation in the Kyoto accords, to helping to raise the profile of green building efforts in Pittsburgh and elsewhere. We feel passionately about this issue and hope this book sparks a new national dialogue about our planet and the steps we must take if we are to preserve it for future generations.

Thank you, and we look forward to seeing you on Saturday, April 14.

Sincerely,
John Kerry
Teresa Heinz Kerry

Drilling in Chaco Canyon Rejected

From the NM Wilderness Alliance:
State Land Commissioner Patrick Lyons has decided not to allow a Colorado company to place two oil wells south of the Chaco Canyon visitor center in northwest New Mexico.

''We have a moral obligation to maintain the integrity of Chaco Canyon, and in all good consciousness I cannot allow the project to move forward,'' state Land Commissioner Pat Lyons said in a statement issued Tuesday. Read the full story here. Read more about the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance's efforts to designate over 15,000 acres of wilderness in and around Chaco Canyon here. Excerpt:

Through on-the-ground surveys and GIS analysis, New Mexico Wilderness Alliance found over 1 million road free acres in the seven National Park lands that lie in our two state region. These include: Chaco Canyon National Historic Park, Bandelier National Park, El Malpais National Monument, White Sands National Monument, Big Bend National Park, Guadalupe Mountains National Park and Carlsbad Caverns National Park. Putting these lands into the National Wilderness Preservation System protects them forever from the changes in Administrations that we clearly see can impact our wildest public lands. Threats come from power lines, cell towers and off-road vehicles. The list is long and the protection of these lands is urgent.

... Many of the Parks are just beginning the scoping phase and soliciting your comments concerning the fate of these important lands. Please contact them today and let them know wilderness is your priority. Also, in these very tough political times, it is imperative that
our elected officials get the strong message that our parks need more funding and less political interference.

Finally, help the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance in its effort to protect these magnificent National Park Lands. Please visit our website for more information or make a contribution today, to NMWA’s National Park fund.