In Their Plan, Some Local Off-Road Vehicle Enthusiasts and Ranchers Have Proposed Removing ALL of Our Wilderness Protections in Dona Ana County, and Replacing Them with a Lesser Made-Up Designation – a “Rangeland Preservation Area (RPA)

1. Wilderness is a Proven Designation with Proven Benefits
• Wilderness exists in 44 states
• There are 25 Wilderness Areas in New Mexico, including outside Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Silver City, Ruidoso, Carlsbad, Roswell, and Grants.
• New Mexico is the birthplace of Wilderness; Gila and Aldo Leopold Wilderness Areas. There are 8 Wilderness Study Areas (WSA’s) in Dona Ana County.
• An RPA is an unproven non-existent designation that local ranchers made-up. There is no history of what it would mean for us or the quality of land protection.


2. RPA’s Would Reduce the Level of Protection That CURRENLTY Exists in our WSA’s and Would Exist in Wilderness
• WSA’s and Wilderness protects hunting, primitive recreation, horseback riding and other uses. RPA’s, because they have no history, cannot be said to either protect or endanger these and other activities.
• Wilderness provides for strict enforcement of illegal off road vehicle management. Irresponsible ORV abuse has been called the “biggest threat to public lands in the west.”
• Wilderness protection places lands into the prestigious National Landscape Conservation System (NLCS), elevating them into the top echelon of our country’s protected natural crown jewels. The NLCS “units” receive more attention, more resources, and a higher funding priority from the BLM. Reviewing the other designations that exist within the NLCS clearly shows that an RPA designation would relegate our public lands to a 2nd tier status, out of step with the needs of our growing community.


3. Wilderness Protections Have a Very Good Chance of Passing Congress. An RPA Has No Chance of Enactment Into Law.
• Because the Wilderness designation has proven itself in New Mexico and across our country, both Senators Udall and Bingaman strongly support this conservation tool. Wilderness is also an accepted management designation by both the United States Congress and the BLM. The RPA proposal has no such support.


4. Wilderness Includes and Protects Ranching
• The Wilderness Act specifically protects the abilities of ranchers to graze livestock in Wilderness areas.
• Congressional grazing guidelines regarding Wilderness specifically re-state the abilities of ranchers to operate in Wilderness as well as utilize motor vehicles and equipment to maintain their allotments.
• There has been NO CHANGE in the number of ranchers who operate in New Mexico’s largest Wilderness Area since its protection as Wilderness. In Arizona, there have been over 2 million acres of BLM Wilderness protected, and there has been NO CHANGE in the number of ranchers in operation.