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| BINGAMAN, DOMENICI, UDALL & WILSON INTRODUCE MEASURE TO DESIGNATE WILDERNESS AREA IN SANDOVAL CO. |
September 25, 2003 |
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| WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Jeff Bingaman and Pete Domenici, along with Representatives Tom Udall and Heather Wilson, today introduced legislation that would create 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, introduced today in both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives, recognizes that the area’s dramatic landforms and rock structures, multicolored badlands, and rare plants are worthy of permanent protection. The measure has 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, and several environmental groups.
“This area’s rugged terrain offers a rewarding challenge to hikers, backpackers, photographers and others who are looking for solitude, inspiration, and quiet recreation. It shelters ancient Puebloan ruins and endangered plants, and it offers a pristine view of one of the most impressive geological sites in the country. There’s no question that we should recognize this area and protect its unique gifts,” said Bingaman, the top Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
“I believe the time has come for this bill to take action now to offer permanent protection for this area. All parties have worked out issues that will allow us to highlight the ecological and cultural significance of this remote area. And the bill takes into account continued public access to the area, which is important,” said Domenici, chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
“The effort to secure permanent protection for the Ojito area and the surrounding wild lands has finally achieved the broad-based support necessary to move forward,” Udall said. “Developing this legislation has been a long road, and I am gratified with today`s introduction of this bill in the House and Senate. This remarkable landscape varies from high desert mesas to endless rugged canyons, and contains significant archaeological and paleontological sites. Securing this wilderness designation would be the first in New Mexico in over 15 years and I can think of few other areas worthy of this distinction.”
This is a project that my predecessor, Manual Lujan, worked on as our nation`s Secretary of the Interior,” Wilson said. “At the time, he recommended that Congress designate the Ojito Wilderness. I commend the Pueblo for working with the county, the BLM, and the state land office to develop legislation that is broadly supported.”
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MEMBERS OF THE NEW MEXICO DELEGATION INTRODUCES OJITO WILDERNESS ACT p.2
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.
The bill will be referred to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and the House Resources Committee.
If enacted, Ojito would be the first new wilderness designation in New Mexico in 15 years, and only the fourth wilderness area in the State to be managed by the Bureau of Land Management.
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