Please consider taking a few minutes to write letters to your representatives.  It is crucial that your representatives understand your views on land use for Dona Ana County.  For details and contact information, see our "Take Action" page.

We need your help! 
It is absolutely critical that we have as many letters as possible, as soon as possible! 

No time to write a letter? 
Then give your representatives a call. 

See our "Take Action" page for information.

Our proposed legislation is the Dona Ana County Planned Growth, Open Space and Rangeland Preservation Area Act. 

• For details on the legislation, click here.

• Please state in your letters that you support this proposed legislation as provided by People for Preserving Our Western Heritage.

Facts on the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance (NMWA) Proposal for Federal Wilderness Designation

• The New Mexico Wilderness Alliance has proposed federal wilderness designation for over 300,000 acres in Dona Ana County

• This proposal originated from organized, well funded groups who campaign for wilderness designation, NOT the local citizens.  The wilderness campaign for designating as much land as wilderness as possible is occurring throughout the western United States.

• Dona Ana county residents have duties, responsibilities and investments in the proposed wilderness areas that were not considered in the NMWA proposal

• The initial push for wilderness was done without involving ranchers, law enforcement personnel, developers, and many others in our community.  Only after Senataor Domenici called for community consensus did any efforts to make the public aware of this proposal take place.

• The NMWA greater inventory describes 599,110 acres of lands with wilderness criteria.  Their current proposal is just the beginning.

• Much of the so-called community "consensus" was contrived and obtained through deceptive means

• NMWA represents themselves as having the authority to create "cherry stems" (implying that existing roads will be creatively mapped out of the wilderness boundaries) to gain support from local individuals and organizations concerned about retaining access to proposed wilderness areas.  NMWA has no actual authority to designate cherry stems.

• NMWA has repeatedly stated that wilderness designation provides additional funding.  However, Section 2 (b) of the Wilderness Act of 1964 specifically prohibits appropriations, making additional funding for wilderness areas illegal.

Background on the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance (NMWA) Proposal for Federal Wilderness Designation

• Dave Foreman founded the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance and served on their board.  He wrote the book "EcoDefense: A Field Guide to Monkeywrenching", a "how-to" handbook on eco-terrorism.  Mr. Foreman also founded Earth First! and The Cenozoic Society.  Earth First! has associations with the Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front, which have been identified by the FBI as a domestic terrorist threat.  Mr. Foreman has been arrested by the FBI.  The Summer 2007 newsletter had an article on the founding board members of NMWA, and stated that Dave Foreman "provided many, if not most, of the philosophical underpinnings that guide the work of NMWA."

Wilderness Designation Facts

• Federal wilderness designation is the most restrictive land use designation available, and it restricts or prohibits many legitimate uses of the public lands

• There are already over 702 federally designated wilderness areas in the US, and that does not include other land designations (national parks, state parks, monuments, reserves, etc.).  These wilderness areas take in over 107 MILLION acres of federal land.  This current inventory of wilderness is completely adequate.

• Currently, there is pending legislation to designate nearly 40 million additional acres of additional land as federal wilderness.

• Dona Ana County already has 4.4 million acres of federal and NMSU land restricted from the general public's access

• Most areas in Dona Ana County do not, in spirit or in fact, meet the requirements for federal wilderness designation.  To designate these areas as wilderness compromises the fidelity of the original intent of the Wilderness Act of 1964.

• Protecting open space DOES NOT require a federal wilderness designation.  There are viable alternatives that do not have the far-reaching ramifications of federal wilderness designation.

• Federal wilderness designation prohibits motorized vehicles and mechanized equipment

• Wilderness areas restrict and to a large degree eliminate public access to the areas

Wilderness Designation Impacts on National Security and Law Enforcement

• Wilderness areas along the border become easy points of illegal entry, and havens for drug and human trafficking.  The Organ Pipe National Monument and Cabeza Prieta wilderness area in Arizona are prime examples of how land designation impacts illegal activity in the area.

• Wilderness ties the hands of law enforcement and Border Patrol officers

• Wilderness on the southern border of our country constitutes a threat to our National Security

• The Memo of Understanding in place to allow law enforcement to use motorized vehicles for "pursuit" is not sufficient, because it does not allow any pro-active patrol activities

• Wilderness areas make search and rescue operations difficult because of the inability to utilize motorized vehicles

Wilderness Designation Impacts on Flood Control and Water Management

• Wilderness designation will impact the ability of Elephant Butte Irrigation District to appropriately manage the water resources in Dona Ana County.  Restrictions on motorized vehicles, roads and construction will have significant negative impacts on flood control, water capture and water management.

• The greater Broad Canyon area, Robledos and Las Uvas areas, proposed by NMWA for wilderness designation, represents a significant watershed for our county

Wilderness Designation Impacts on Ranching

• Where wilderness, land management agencies, environmental groups and ranchers collide, ranchers lose

• Ranchers have property rights (water rights, grazing allotments, deeded property and improvements) which would be negatively impacted by wilderness designation

• Many environmental groups which support wilderness designation have a strong anti-grazing position, and support an agenda to remove all livestock from federal lands

• Ranching operations in other areas that have been designated wilderness have suffered with administrative burdens that can result in loss of economic viability

• If these lands have any wilderness characteristics at all, then the stewards of the lands for over 150 years, the ranching community, must have had some hand in that outcome.

• The key to open space in the American West is the presence of the American rancher

Wilderness Designation Impacts on Wildlife & Conservation

• Wilderness "management" is intended to allow nature to exist, uninhibited and unimpeded by humans. 

• The philosophy of "hands off" land management does not allow positive and pro-active land and wildlife conservation projects

• If ranching is eliminated, wildlife will be impacted.  The union between livestock and wildlife needs to be recognized.

• There is only ONE naturally occurring, permanent watering site in all of western Dona Ana County.  The rest of the watering sources are there because of cattle, and they are all maintained by ranchers who presently have, and must retain, unrestricted vehicular access.

People for Preserving Our Western Heritage identified the following Community Expectations for land preservation, all of which are preserved and protected in our proposed legislation:

• Retention of open space;

• Provision for planned economic and population growth;

• Unrestricted application of Homeland Security and law enforcement activities;

• Prevention of unlawful use of off-road vehicles;

• Continued access for all segments of the public;

• Perpetuation of historical ranching operations;

• Access for flood control and water capture projects;

• Enhancement of wildlife and rangeland health; and,

• True fidelity to historical Wilderness concepts and law.

People for Preserving Our Western Heritage Proposal Benefits

• Legislatively eliminates the development and disposal of the lands, protecting open space and views

• Protects the social fabric and historical use of the lands

• Specifically allows law enforcement and border patrol effective and meaningful access, elevating National Security to a prescribed character of the land designation

• Does not discriminate against the ethical enjoyment of these lands by all segments of the public and does not segregate participants

• Allows proactive conservation efforts for rangeland and wildlife

• Promotes positive and productive use of the lands

• Allows ranchers to continue their operations

• Allows for the implementation of science based conservation measures, blending stewardship with permanent retention of open space

• Recognizes the importance of livestock in wildlife habitat

• Allows the improvement and expansion of water conservation, water distribution, water capture and water recovery projects

• Allows the community benefit of flood control devices and early warning systems

• Allows hunters, horseback riders and other recreationalists to have access to the areas

• Prohibits irresponsible off-highway vehicle use

• Preserves access to all existing roads

• The effort is locally driven

• Does not eliminate or harm private property rights

• We believe that lands managed for the good of people in addition to the good of the land are much healthier in the long run.

• A plan that includes farming and ranching heritage in its underpinnings is a plan that is unique and different from any land designation in existence.

• The ranching community believes all the lands need perpetual stewardship.  This is not an effort to save the best.  Rather, it is an effort to care for all of it.

• If the Mesilla Valley farmland heritage is to remain part of the landscape, a development plan that includes federal lands must be part of the concept.  The draft legislation submitted by the PFPWH has that firmly in mind.

• The Organs are the flagship consideration of any proposal.  Everyone acknowledges that the Organs are the image, the spirit, and the defining focus of this endeavor.  They are, however, a part of a greater idea that combines social fabric and physical features as equally important within the community.

• “Management of the Commons” has failed in every circumstance that it has been attempted.  Stewardship is never perfected.  Leopold described stewardship as a special circumstance that comes about in only a very narrow platform of existence.  One of those circumstances is the landowner “too poor to pay for his sport”.  In other words, when the steward has the authority and must perform the duty by himself, the full measure of stewardship emerges.  Hence, stewardship and “management of the commons” are contradictory and exclusionary principles much like ranching and wilderness.       

For details and contact information for our government officials, see our "Take Action" page.