On Saturday, December 15, 2012, U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar visited New Mexico to listen to the local community that wants to protect Rio Grande del Norte.
I have some exciting news from New Mexico to share with all of you! Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) has announced plans to introduce legislation that would designate 45,000 acres of what is now the Columbine Hondo Wilderness Study Area as permanently protected Wilderness.
Developers can never again claim that residents of Alaska’s Lake and Peninsula Borough want them to build the dangerous Pebble Mine at the headwaters of Bristol Bay.
Both seek to open up Wilderness-quality lands – those untrammeled places protected by The Wilderness Act of 1964 – to development, mining and other destructive uses. They also attack lands deemed Inventoried Roadless Areas, which are not allowed to be developed.
The 150 million plus acres are home to thousands of species of birds, fish, and wildlife – nearly 21 million acres of these incredible landscapes are permanently protected from degradation and destruction in the National Wilderness Preservation System.
