Rio Grande del Norte Back Before Congress
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - New Mexico's Rio Grande del Norte region was first proposed for wilderness designation in the 1980s, and Congress is taking the first step toward making it happen.
The Senate Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests will hear testimony today from those in support of Senate Bill 667, which would turn 21,000 acres of the Rio Grande del Norte into a wilderness area. The tract nearly won the designation last year, and John Olivas, northern director of the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance, thinks the chances are better this year.
"There has not been any development that has occurred within the area, so the area is still pristine. The area has been considered by some folk as the 'Grand Canyon' of northern New Mexico."
The wilderness would be part of a 235,000-acre conservation area.
Garrett Veneklasen, a volunteer with Trout Unlimited-New Mexico, says saving wilderness is part of the New Mexican culture.
"The land and the special cultures of New Mexico are so closely tied to one another that you can't separate them. For the preservation of the culture, it's really, really important that we preserve the land."
Veneklasen says the area is also a vital bird migratory flyway.
The text of SB 667, the Rio Grande del Norte National Conservation Area Establishment Act, is online at e-lobbyist.com.
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