By BEN NEARY
NMWF Conservation Director
Chaves County has paid over $185,000 in the past five years to a nonprofit group that’s drawing criticism for its partisan attacks on President Biden’s 30×30 conservation plan.
The Texas-based American Stewards of Liberty group has received money from Chaves County through a series of annual consulting contracts dating to 2016. The contracts call for ASL to advise Chaves County on land management and endangered species issues.
In recent months, ASL has emerged as a national leader in attacking Biden’s 30×30 plan, a centerpiece of his domestic agenda. The plan calls for protecting 30 percent of the lands and waters in the country by the year 2030 to help address habitat loss, wildlife corridors and climate change.
The ASL’s opposition to Biden’s plan comes even as international alarm about climate change is intensifying in the face of worldwide droughts, fires, increasing temperatures and violent weather patterns.
On Aug. 9, the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a report that concludes climate change caused by humans poses a dire threat to the future of life on Earth. The report, dubbed a “Code Red for humanity,” concludes that climate change is intensifying rapidly and affecting every region worldwide.
“Many changes are unprecedented in thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of years,” the IPCC stated. “Some, such as continued sea-level rise, are irreversible over hundreds to thousands of years.”
The IPCC report recommends sharp and sustained reductions in emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases to limit climate change. Benefits for air quality would come quickly, it says, while global temperatures would take 20 to 30 years to stabilize.
Margaret Byfield, executive director of the ASL group, wrote to Chaves County Manager Bill Williams in January, just days after Biden’s inauguration, and urged Williams to consider a county commission resolution opposing 30×30.
“We read this as a huge overreach by the Administration, if for no other reason than it prioritizes “climate crisis” over the policies set by Congress such as multiple use,” Byfield wrote to Williams.
Williams responded, “Thank you Margaret. We knew that things were going to quickly begin to swing to fit the agenda of the new administration. It’s kind of amazing how quickly they are starting their campaign of overreach though.”
Byfield wrote to Williams again in February, “I am hoping Chaves County will pass a resolution opposing this (30×30). It’s important you have this on record as part of your policy. It will also help show Congress they need to oppose the program.“
The NMWF obtained Chaves County email communications with ASL under the state’s inspection of public records act. Attempts to reach Williams and Byfield were not successful after the records request.
A national watchdog group, Accountable.US, recently filed a pending complaint with the Internal Revenue Service asserting that ASL’s overtly partisan attacks on Biden’s 30×30 proposal in other states violates ASL’s tax-exempt status.
“American Stewards of Liberty is using its status as a nonprofit to peddle misinformation and scare local representatives out of supporting the bold climate agenda necessary to preserve our public lands for future generations,” Kyle Herrig, president of Accountable.US, said in a statement.
The Chaves County Commission unanimously passed a resolution against the 30×30 in May. Otero, Catron, Quay and Lea Counties all recently have passed similar measures, as has the Logan (NM) Board of Education.
The Roswell Daily Record covered the Chaves County Commission vote on the anti-30×30 resolution.
The Daily Record quoted Will Cavin, chair of the board of commissioners: “They keep creating these ACECs (areas of critical environmental concerns), these like-wilderness areas and these habitats, and it is just to take up and keep our ranchers and farmers and business people and oil and gas and you name it — It is to stop any type of economic promotion within our county, our state and our nation,” the newspaper quoted him as saying. “I appreciate the commission’s (passion) and the passion that everybody has to protect everybody in our county.”
Dennis Roch, superintendent of the Logan Municipal Schools, said the school board passed resolutions opposing both the 30×30 plan as well as proposed protections for the Lesser Prairie Chicken under the Endangered Species Act.
“Both of these were brought to the board’s attention by some area ranchers,” Roch said. He said the ranchers presented the school board with a draft resolution that had been prepared by ASL opposing 30×30. He said the school district doesn’t contract with ASL.
Officials at Catron County and Otero County said their counties aren’t contracting with ASL. Attempts to reach Quay County and Lea County officials weren’t immediately successful.
The Biden Administration calls its 30×30 program the “America the Beautiful” initiative.
“The Federal Government must protect America’s natural treasures, increase reforestation, improve access to recreation, and increase resilience to wildfires and storms, while creating well-paying union jobs for more Americans, including more opportunities for women and people of color in occupations where they are underrepresented,” Biden said in his January announcement of the program.
The ASL group, however, frequently attacks 30×30 as a “land grab” and has been working around the country to drum up opposition.
“Liberals have been eroding our property rights for environmental causes, indoctrinating our children with socialist ideals, monopolizing the major communication platforms and narratives with Robber Barren (sic) control, and inoculating Americans against truth and freedom for decades,” the ASL stated in its January newsletter, which went to Williams and others. “The corona virus was a tipping point, creating the chaos essential to stop an almost guaranteed second term for President Trump. Now the socialists are in charge.”
In early May, the ASL newsletter hailed anti-30×30 legislation she said was being prepared by Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo.
“Although getting Republican priorities passed in this Congress is a long shot, having this bill ready to move is important,” the ASL newsletter stated of Boebert’s proposal. “Not only does it prohibit any funding for 30×30 programs, but it also prohibits federal land acquisitions in States that have more than 15% of their land owned by the federal government. This is a policy that should be advanced when Republicans regain control of Congress. Now is the time to set this stage.”
Chaves County is one of several rural counties in the West that has paid ASL for consulting services. The group is clearly gaining traction in its lobbying work against 30×30.
The Colorado Sun reported in April that at least four Colorado counties — Garfield, Moffat, Rio Blanco and Las Animas — have passed ASL-supported resolutions opposing 30×30.
“Garfield County’s resolution included a statement that lands left in undisturbed states are a burden on local counties because they are ‘highly susceptible to wildland wildfires, insect infestation and disease,” the Colorado Sun reported. “It did not mention how much Western Colorado counties have come to rely on outdoor recreation on public lands.”
The ASL also has been particularly active in Nebraska, where Republican Gov. Pete Ricketts signed a resolution opposing 30×30 in June. The ASL worked closely with Ricketts and has lavished praise on his opposition to the plan.
“Here in Nebraska, we are not waiting for more details from the Biden-Harris Administration and the radical environmental groups that are their closest allies on 30×30,” Ricketts stated in a weekly column he released July 21. “We are taking action to stop the 30×30 land grab. Over half of Nebraska’s counties have passed resolutions formally opposing 30×30.”
Byfield is the daughter of the late Wayne Hage, a Nevada rancher who came to prominence through his long-running legal challenge against the U.S. Forest Service in which he claimed he had a property right to continue to graze cattle on federal lands. The U.S. Supreme Court ultimately ruled against his claims after his death in 2006.
Byfield runs ASL with her husband, Dan Byfield. The latest federal tax information for ASL shows the couple drew over $192,000 in salary in 2019, the latest figures available.
The NMWF strongly supports 30×30. Executive Director Jesse Deubel said the federation objects to seeing taxpayer dollars used to support ASL’s partisan attacks on the program.
“We’re open to a full and honest debate on the merits of preserving more lands and waters nationwide to address climate change,” Deubel said. “Hunters and anglers are witnessing firsthand the devastating effects of degraded public lands. Critical wildlife habitat is shrinking and becoming increasingly fragmented, which puts the very future of hunting and angling at dire risk.”
The New Mexico Wildlife Federation objects to Chaves County and other counties around the West siphoning public funds to the American Stewards of Liberty, Deubel said. “The record is clear that this group is functioning as a partisan political attack dog in opposing the 30×30 plan,” he said. “That’s not a proper use of public funds.”