In April, President Trump issued an executive order calling on the Interior Department to review 27 national monuments across the country. New Mexico’s two newest monuments, Rio Grande del Norte and Organ Mountains Desert Peaks National Monuments were on the list. Part of the review process included an opportunity for the public to submit comments about the monuments.
The public really took that to heart.
More than 2 million comments were submitted to the Interior Department. By every analysis and account – including the Interior Department’s own summary of the report – comments were overwhelmingly in support of the monuments and keeping them as they are. Hundreds of New Mexico Wildlife Federation members submitted comments during the review period and attended events in both monuments showing their support for our public lands.
We kicked off a busy summer rallying for our monuments on May 2nd at the Taos Fly Shop. We held a barbeque and had community leaders from across the north speak about the importance of protecting Rio Grande del Norte National Monument. With the help of our partners, hundreds showed up to voice their support for the monument and sign petition letters to the Interior Department. The entire event was broadcast live thanks to the support of KTAOS Radio.
Next, New Mexico Wildlife Federation staff were headed even farther north to Bears Ears National Monument in Utah, the monument with the shortest review period at the beginning. In Bears Ears, we met with tribal leaders and locals to discuss the monument. It quickly became clear what a unique campaign it was to get Bears Ears designated. Multiple tribes came together to protect this area that has special meaning to so many people. Bears Ears is a great example of what diverse coalitions can accomplish. We met with Ute member Malcolm Lehi and Navajo member Davis Filfred who were integral in making the monument designation a reality. They emphasized the importance of the area to multiple tribes, the unprecedented cooperation among community members, and the need to protect this area from development.
Despite what many public land seizure proponents claim, there isn’t much you can’t do in the monument. Hunting, grazing, fishing, camping, OHV use, and other recreation activites are all allowed on the monument, as our executive director put it, “the only thing you can’t do in the monument is drill and destroy the beautiful, sacred landscape.”
During our two days in the monument our staff, along with our partners at the National Wildlife Federation, successfully harvested a turkey. Upon our return to New Mexico, we gifted the pelts to students at the Santa Fe Indian School Pueblo Pathways Project.
But this whirlwind trip was only the beginning. May would bring two Matanza events, one in the Organ Mountains Desert Peaks and one in Rio Grande del Norte. In the Organ Mountains, about a hundred community members showed up to enjoy mariachi music performed by students from a local high school, enjoy traditional Mexican dishes, and hear from elected officials, sportsmen, veterans, and community leaders about the need to protect the monument.
“I’ve been all over the world, I spent ten years overseas and no one has public lands like we have,” said Jeff Swanson, veteran and member of Southern Public Lands Alliance. “Where all Americans can share them and all Americans can hunt and fish and hike and camp and come out here and look at such beauty.”
A week later we were prepping for our second matanza in Rio Grande del Norte. Two nights before we worked with our partners preparing the pig for the traditional meal. Held over Memorial Day weekend, the matanza focused on the crucial contributions of veterans in defending our country and our public
lands. Hundreds showed up to the Taos Mesa Brewery to eat, sign petitions, and hear from veterans about why the monument mattered to them.
“When I left and came back, finding that inner peace again to find it in places like this, all that stuff, all the stress is gone when you’re out there just chillin’,” said Julian Gonzales Jr. New Mexico Wildlife Federation member and servicem ember about his time overseas serving. “That’s what I got to say, and if it’s taken away, then you don’t have that place anymore. You don’t got that inner peace anymore. And to me that’s what helped me fight a lot of the demons when I got back.”
New Mexicans from all walks of life have a vested interest in these lands. After all, they belong to all of us. But our monuments aren’t just for our enjoyment today, they also are a key to our past, a gift for future generations, and a necessary part of a healthy wildlife population.
The Organ Mountains have petroglyphs and are the location of many important moments in Mexican, Apache, and Mogollon history. Rio Grande del Norte is a premier trout fishery with 66 miles of public water, prime habitat for bighorn sheep, elk, deer, pronghorn, waterfowl, and contains crucial wildlife corridors for our big game. Without monument protections these unique habitats could be open to development which would forever alter and damage the landscape.
As the summer and the monument review continued, it looked like Secretary Ryan Zinke would be traveling to New Mexico. These seemed like a bad omen as his previous trips seemed to only take place at contested monuments like Bears Ears. So we got to work again, preparing rallies in Organ Mountains to show the overwhelming local support for the monument. Hundreds showed up to the town hall in Las Cruces – but Secretary Zinke wasn’t one of them.
Fortunately after his trip, Zinke said he thought our monuments were settled and he didn’t see any need to change them. We continued to wait to see if he would keep his word. Then the deadline day came, August 24th – the day the Interior was supposed to release their report. News started coming out that the report had been sent to the White House. The Interior press release said some monuments would be receiving recommendations for changes but none would be rescinded completely. We waited and waited for more details, but none came.
Finally in late September, the report was leaked. While no size recommendations were made, the report suggested changing the management of Rio Grande del Norte and Organ Mountains Desert Peaks. If implemented these changes could seriously damage the monument by allowing logging, oil and gas, and mining – basically nullifying it’s monument status.
The contents of the document prove that this review was not taken seriously and not done honestly. The review was never really about public input and not all the monuments went through “reviews.” This was especially true as Zinke would announce randomly throughout the summer that some monuments would be safe from changes – without a visit from Interior employees.
Certainly the federal government is not perfect, but that’s why there is a public post-designation planning process. Get involved with your local field offices to have a say in the management of your public lands. There is always an opportunity to speak up in support of your public lands.
