{"id":428463,"date":"2017-09-17T21:42:00","date_gmt":"2017-09-18T03:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=428463"},"modified":"2017-09-20T16:11:52","modified_gmt":"2017-09-20T22:11:52","slug":"zinke-doesnt-recommend-shrinking-two-new-mexico-monuments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2017\/09\/zinke-doesnt-recommend-shrinking-two-new-mexico-monuments\/","title":{"rendered":"Zinke doesn’t recommend shrinking two New Mexico monuments"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Topp

Heath Haussamen \/ NMPolitics.net<\/p>

The historic Topp Hut structure in the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks, one of two national monuments in New Mexico for which Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke isn’t recommending a reduction in size.<\/p><\/div>\n

U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is recommending no reduction in the size of two New Mexico national monuments, but he is seeking some changes in how they are managed.<\/p>\n

The Wall Street Journal<\/a> and Washington Post<\/a> obtained and reported on Sunday evening about\u00a0Zinke’s previously secret recommendations<\/a> to President Donald Trump\u00a0after reviewing dozens of monuments designated by recent presidents under the 1906 Antiquities Act. Zinke’s charge was to determine if the monuments\u00a0went too far in grabbing land.<\/p>\n

While Zinke is recommending shrinking at least four other monuments — Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante in Utah, Gold Butte in Nevada, and Cascade-Siskiyou in Oregon — the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks and Rio Grande del Norte in New Mexico aren’t on the list of recommended monuments to shrink. Both were designated by former President Barack Obama.<\/p>\n

But Zinke did recommend some management changes for the New Mexico monuments. From the Washington Post:<\/p>\n

The secretary urges Trump to request congressional authority \u201cto enable tribal co-management of designated cultural resources\u201d in three ancestral sites: Bears Ears, Rio Grande del Norte and Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Also from the Post:<\/p>\n

While concerns about ranching are raised more frequently than any other objection in the report, Zinke also writes that \u201cborder security is a concern resulting from the designation\u201d of Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks near New Mexico\u2019s border with Mexico. Both the Homeland Security Department and the Pentagon should assess risks associated with the monument, he suggests, given the proximity of nearby military installations.<\/p>\n

U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued a letter in January 2014, before the site was designated, saying it would not impede security\u00a0<\/b>and would \u201csignificantly enhance the flexibility\u201d of agents patrolling a five-mile strip along the border that was then an official wilderness study area.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The report<\/a> specifically mentions the Potrillo Mountains in Do\u00f1a Ana County, near the border with Mexico — the area CBP was referring to in 2014 — saying this area “lends itself to a drug smuggling route and needs to be monitored.”<\/p>\n

For the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks monument in southern New Mexico, which Zinke visited<\/a> in July, the report also recommends that\u00a0the management plan “should be revised to continue to project objects and prioritize public access; infrastructure upgrades, repair, and maintenance; traditional use; tribal cultural use; and hunting and fishing rights.”<\/p>\n

For the Rio Grande del Norte monument near Taos, the report makes the same recommendations.<\/p>\n

Many in the local ranching community are seeking\u00a0a reduction in the size of Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks monument. They were led by U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., who on Monday said Zinke’s recommendation falls short.<\/p>\n

“Secretary\u00a0Zinke’s\u00a0recommendation fails\u00a0to provide the solutions\u00a0New Mexico\u00a0needs,” Pearce said in a news release. “…\u00a0The\u00a0size and complexity of the Organ Mountains [monument] raises serious economic, security and access concerns that cannot be appropriately addressed\u00a0without resizing the monument\u2019s footprint.”<\/p>\n

Pearce included statements from others decrying Zinke’s recommendation, including Frank DuBois, a former state agriculture secretary.<\/p>\n

\u201cChanging the grazing language will help but does not answer all the concerns of the ranching community,” DuBois said.<\/p>\n

Rancher Carol Cooper agreed.<\/p>\n

“Reducing the footprint of the monument is the only way to protect individuals, businesses and our community from the negative effects of the monument designation,” she said in Pearce’s release.<\/p>\n

The Center for Biological Diversity, on the other hand, is upset that Zinke is recommending any changes to monuments, and contends Trump has no authority to make changes.<\/p>\n

“If he tries to, we’ll see him in court,” said Randi Spivak, the center’s public lands program director.<\/p>\n

\u201cZinke claims he wants to perpetuate traditional uses, but he\u2019s actually promoting traditional abuses,” Spivak said. “Logging, mining, grazing, fracking and drilling destroy wildlife habitat and objects of scientific and cultural importance.”<\/p>\n

New Mexico’s two U.S. senators, while on the opposite side of the issue from Pearce, were as upset as him by Zinke’s report. Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich\u00a0said Zinke’s recommendation “completely ignores New Mexicans\u2019 overwhelming support for the monuments, and doesn\u2019t even offer specifics and meaningful data to back up their vague recommendations.”<\/p>\n

“It doesn\u2019t come as a surprise that local voices were not taken into consideration, since Secretary Zinke declined to attend a town hall meeting on Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks and never even set foot in Rio Grande del Norte,” Udall and Heinrich said. “It\u2019s clear this report is a politically driven attempt by Washington to justify the administration\u2019s extreme position that public lands should be privatized, leased or sold to the highest bidder.”<\/p>\n

\u201cA decision to move forward with these recommendations would be both exceedingly unpopular and very likely illegal,” the senators said. “We strongly urge the president to reject this sham report, honor the work by New Mexicans, and confirm that he will leave intact Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks, Rio Grande del Norte and all the other national monuments.\u201d<\/p>\n

Demis Foster, executive director of Conservation Voters New Mexico, said it was a “relief” that Zinke didn’t recommend shrinking the state’s two newest national monuments.<\/p>\n

“However, the report alludes to changes in the proclamations concerning the management of both monuments which are deeply troubling,\u201d Foster said. \u201cBoth national monument proclamations were created after detailed consultation with local communities and tribal representatives in order to protect important archeological and cultural sites and irreplaceable lands and wildlife. In addition, 82 percent of New Mexicans support keeping our national monuments just the way they are. They must not be altered to allow exploitation by mining, logging or other special interests.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zinke’s\u00a0report was apparently leaked to the Post and Journal, as the Trump Administration has thus far refused to release it. The report is marked “Not for Distribution.”<\/p>\n

The White House hasn’t taken action on Zinke’s recommendations.<\/p>\n

This article has been updated.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

But the U.S. interior secretary is recommending changes in how the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks and Rio Grande del Norte monuments are managed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":428480,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[115,3278,116],"class_list":["post-428463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-dona-ana-county","tag-public-lands","tag-washington"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428463","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=428463"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428463\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/428480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=428463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=428463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=428463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}