{"id":3420,"date":"2008-07-03T07:40:00","date_gmt":"2008-07-03T13:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/07\/pearces-conservation-bill-whats-not-to-like\/"},"modified":"2008-07-03T07:40:00","modified_gmt":"2008-07-03T13:40:00","slug":"pearces-conservation-bill-whats-not-to-like","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/07\/pearces-conservation-bill-whats-not-to-like\/","title":{"rendered":"Pearce’s conservation bill: What’s not to like?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>By Jim Scarantino<\/span> <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The Do\u00f1a Ana County Wilderness Coalition<\/a> deserves congratulations for Rep. Steve Pearce\u2019s<\/a> proposed legislation to protect more than 300,000 acres of federal land in Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place>. By kick-starting the debate on how to preserve the landscape surrounding a booming Las Cruces, the wilderness coalition succeeded in prompting a conservative Republican congressman to introduce the first major land conservation legislation for southern New Mexico in nearly 30 years. Moreover, his legislation originated among constituencies acting out of stereotype in joining the call to permanently protect the rugged beauty of the area.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

I am the former chairman of the Coalition for New Mexico Wilderness<\/a>. I was also a board member and executive director of the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance<\/a>. I helped lead the effort to win protection for the Ojito Wilderness<\/a> in Sandoval<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placetype><\/st1:place>. That legislation passed in 2005. It was the first citizen-initiated wilderness legislation for New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> in almost two decades.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

In a blog I kept a couple years ago, I expressed concern about the Do\u00f1a Ana wilderness campaign led by the Wilderness Alliance. There\u2019s no point in rehashing what I think went wrong from the campaign\u2019s very first steps. What\u2019s done is done, and wilderness activists simply have to deal with the political situation they face today.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Tom Cooper, co-chairman of People For Preserving Our Western Heritage<\/a>, saw my blog entries and contacted me. Though Tom is regularly described in news reports as a rancher, he is more accurately considered a businessman. He has run a successful accounting business in Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place> for decades. He owns two car dealerships. And he owns ranches, including one in Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place>.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

I had met Tom when working for the Wilderness Alliance in 2003 on issues related to Otero Mesa. Tom has a ranch on the western end of those grasslands. Our conversations back then could not be described as friendly. Respectful, yes. Friendly, no. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

But because we had always treated each other honestly, Tom felt he could reach out to me. He told me of the frustrations and fear the ranching community was feeling, and how much the agricultural community in general distrusted the Wilderness Alliance because of the people who controlled its board of directors. That operative fact is a big problem in this controversy. I will return to that issue later.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Tom insisted his group wanted rural Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place> kept the way it is, but could not live under the Wilderness Act because of the adverse impact on their operations, law enforcement, water resources and flood control.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The birth of the legislation<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

I gave him two pieces of free advice: One, don\u2019t give up. You and the members of your group are well respected. You have deep roots in your community. Don\u2019t let yourselves feel helpless. And, two, if you really mean what you say about wanting to protect Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place> for future generations, don\u2019t just be obstructionist. Be constructive. Propose and advocate for your own alternative solution.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

That\u2019s just what they did. Pearce\u2019s proposed legislation, H.R. 6300<\/a>, is the brainchild of Tom\u2019s group.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

To say the least, Tom\u2019s group exceeded all expectations. The wilderness coalition, for its part, has enjoyed the services of several full-time employees and a large organizing and advertising budget. People For Preserving Our Western Heritage has relied solely on volunteers who have other full-time jobs. No outside foundations have been sending them five-figure donations to launch a media and lobbying campaign.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The group has assembled a coalition more than three times as large as what the wilderness professionals accomplished. Tom\u2019s group has peeled away governments and organizations that initially supported wilderness. The chambers of commerce of Las Cruces<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> and Hatch are behind them. Past presidents of New Mexico<\/st1:placename> State<\/st1:placetype> University<\/st1:placetype> support their proposal, along with respected range-management professionals, the National Association of Retired Border Patrol Agents, the sheriff and posse of Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place>, the Elephant Butte Irrigation District and the Hispanic Farmers and Ranchers of America.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

There is more support for the proposal drafted by this committed group of volunteers than New Mexico has seen for any other conservation initiative in a generation, with the possible exception of the professionally run campaign to protect Valle Vidal<\/a> from energy development.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The proposal from People For Preserving Our Western Heritage has drawn so much support so easily because it has a vision that can work. Once you tune out the rhetoric and partisan bickering and actually read Pearce\u2019s bill, as far as preserving Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place>\u2019s open spaces, there\u2019s really not much to dislike. Nor are his land-disposal provisions as bad as opponents argue. I will address the specific merits of his legislation in my next column.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Scarantino<\/a> has been recognized as one of the country\u2019s best political columnists by the American Association of Alternative Newsweeklies<\/a>. His work has been published in more than 50 newspapers. You can contact him at jrscarantino@yahoo.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jim Scarantino The Do\u00f1a Ana County Wilderness Coalition deserves congratulations for Rep. Steve Pearce\u2019s proposed legislation to protect more than 300,000 acres of federal land in Do\u00f1a Ana County. By kick-starting the debate on how to preserve the landscape surrounding a booming Las Cruces, the wilderness coalition succeeded in prompting a conservative Republican congressman […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[90],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-scarantino-columns"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3420"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3420\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}