The Organ Mountains (Photo by Heath Haussamen)
U.S. Sens. Jeff Bingaman and Tom Udall, D-N.M., will be in Las Cruces today to hold an official Senate hearing on their proposal to protect more than 300,000 acres of land in Doña Ana County.
The Energy and Natural Resources Committee field hearing on the Organ Mountains – Desert Peaks Wilderness Act will be held at 2:30 p.m. in the Corbett Center ballrooms on the New Mexico State University campus.
The hearing, according to a news release from Bingaman, is an official action of the Senate during which only invited witnesses will deliver testimony. The hearing is open to the public.
The senators introduced the legislation in October. 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.