 |
| Udall, Wilson Celebrate Ojito Wilderness |
April 22, 2006 |
| |
In the Ojito Wilderness - Representatives Tom Udall, D-N.M., and Heather Wilson, R-N.M., today visited the former home of a famous dinosaur and joined community leaders in central New Mexico to celebrate the designation of a new wilderness area in Sandoval County.
Wilson and Udall visited the Ojito Wilderness, the area where “Seismosaurus” (SIZE-mo-sore-us) was discovered. Seismosaurus is the longest dinosaur ever found and was discovered in this area the two Representatives worked hard in the U.S. House to designate as a wilderness area. The dinosaur is now on display at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science.
Wilson and Udall successfully pushed a measured that creates a new wilderness area on federal Bureau of Land Management Land in Sandoval County. The proposal to designate the 11,000-acre site just south of San Ysidro -- known as Ojito -- as a wilderness area was first put forth by then-Interior Secretary Manuel Lujan Jr. in 1991. The Ojito Wilderness Act recognizes that the area’s dramatic landforms and rock structures, multicolored badlands, and rare plants are worthy of permanent protection.
“This is an important day for so many who have worked on this effort. For more than a decade, the Pueblo of Zia worked with the county, the BLM and the state land office to develop balanced legislation that is broadly supported,” Wilson said. “I’m very pleased that the 11,000-acre Ojito Wilderness will have the permanent protection it deserves, and I want to congratulate the Pueblo for achieving this long-sought goal to unite their ancestral lands.”
“Today I am very proud to come together and celebrate Ojito’s permanent protection. This day is a culmination of the hard work by Zia Pueblo, conservationists, ranchers, and the business community in New Mexico which ensures that future generations will be able to enjoy the uniqueness of Ojito.”
This is the first time wilderness has been designated in New Mexico in 10 years. Since the original Wilderness Act was passed in 1964, the National Wilderness Preservation System has grown to include over 680 areas around the nation.
“We are thrilled and thankful that our New Mexico Congressional representatives worked so hard to protect Ojito,” said Linda Rundell, BLM-New Mexico State Director. “The unique landforms, outstanding paleontological resources and rugged scenery are now preserved as permanent wilderness for future generations to appreciate and enjoy.”
The measure had broad local support, including the endorsement of the local Sandoval County Commission, the Bernalillo County Commission, the Albuquerque City Council, Governor Richardson, many of the pueblos, several environmental groups, and a coalition of more than 350 organizations and business groups.
The Ojito area has been preserved as a Wilderness Study Area since 1991, pending congressional action to formally designate the area as wilderness. Enactment of the Ojito Wilderness Act would add these 11,000 acres to the National Wilderness Preservation System, which protects wild areas that have “outstanding opportunities for solitude or a primitive and unconfined type of recreation.” The area will remain open to hiking, backpacking, horseback riding, and rock climbing, as well as grazing and scenic, scientific, educational, conservation, and historical uses. But it also will remain protected from development, including commercial enterprises, road building, and mining, as well as off road vehicle use.
The Ojito Wilderness Act also would add protections to lands buffering the proposed Ojito Wilderness that are largely surrounded by the Pueblo of Zia. The Pueblo will be allowed to purchase these lands for public open space, so long as they remain open to the public for continued recreational, scenic, scientific, educational, paleontological, and conservation uses, and so long as their natural characteristics are preserved. In doing so, the Pueblo will be able to unite the two separate parts of its Reservation with aboriginal lands that have important religious, cultural, and historical value to the Pueblo.
-END- |
|
|
|