Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M. (Photo by Heath Haussamen)
U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., will hold a hearing this week on a bill that would protect more than 350,000 acres of land in Doña Ana County, including the Organ Mountains.
The Organ Mountains – Desert Peaks Wilderness Act, which is sponsored by Bingaman and Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., will be considered by a subcommittee of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, which Bingaman chairs.
The Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests’ hearing will be held Thursday at 2:30 p.m. in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, Room 366, in Washington, according to a release from Bingaman’s office. Among those testifying before the subcommittee will be Doña Ana County Commission Vice Chairman Oscar Vásquez Butler and Jerry Schickedanz, chairman of People for Preserving Our Western Heritage.
Butler supports the legislation, while Schickedanz and his group oppose it.
The senators introduced the legislation last month. The bill would designate 259,000 acres as wilderness and 100,000 acres as national conservation areas. In addition to the Organ Mountains, land on and around the Robledo, Doña Ana and Potrillo mountains would be protected.
The bill would also release 16,350 acres currently designated as a wilderness study area along the county’s border with Mexico. That’s intended to address concerns that law enforcement patrols are hampered by rules against motorized vehicles entering the protected area.
The conservation legislation has been sought for years by the Dona Ana County Wilderness Coalition, which has been led by the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance and includes a long list of businesses, local governments and others.
Schickedanz’s organization, a smaller group that includes ranchers, four-wheelers and the Village of Hatch, has been a vocal opponent. The group wants no wilderness at all and has proposed new, less-restrictive designations for the land, in addition to requiring the sale of 65,000 acres owned by the Bureau of Land Management.