New Mexicans Travel to D.C. to Urge Introduction of Wild & Scenic Legislation
Trip comes as support swells for protection of the Gila and San Francisco Rivers
WASHINGTON (October 29, 2019) – A delegation of local elected officials, Native American Tribes, sportsmen, small business owners, and community leaders will travel to Washington, D.C. tomorrow to ask Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich to introduce legislation to protect the Gila and San Francisco Rivers and their tributaries as Wild and Scenic.
While in D.C., the representatives will meet with the Senators and congressional staff and are available for media interviews, including broadcast.
The trip comes after Grant County passed a resolution to support federal legislation that would protect portions of the Gila and San Francisco Rivers and their main tributaries as Wild and Scenic. For years, a groundswell of support from Tribes, sportsmen, veterans, small business owners, faith and civic organizations, local municipalities and governments, and outdoor recreation and conservation organizations has been growing for safeguarding these rivers.
“Wild and Scenic designation for the Gila River and its tributaries is about protecting our heritage, diversifying our economy, and preparing for climate change,” said Grant County Commissioner Harry Browne. “ It’s so important in so many ways that support for it crosses the usual political and ethnic divisions in our community: Hispanics and Anglos, hunters and hikers, businesspeople and old hippies. My message for Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich is simple: We all want this. Let’s get ‘er done!”
A community-driven proposal would designate roughly 436 miles of the Gila and San Francisco Rivers and their tributaries as Wild and Scenic. The rivers and tributaries compose one of the largest undammed watersheds left in the Lower 48. To date, only .01% of the 108,104 miles of rivers in New Mexico are protected through this designation.
Larry McDaniel, a hunter in Silver City added, “For generations, my family has been visiting the Gila and San Francisco Rivers to fish, hunt, and picnic. I am thankful for the opportunity to meet with Senators Udall and Heinrich and ask them to safeguard our time-tested traditions.”
Grazing and ranching would continue on lands surrounding the segments designated as Wild and Scenic. Additionally, development on roads to private land would not be impacted. Hunting and fishing access would not only be ensured, but the designation would safeguard critical habitat needed to sustain land and water wildlife populations.
“The headwaters of the Gila is where the ancestors of the Apache and other indigenous peoples walked, and today it remains sacred ground that connects us to our past,” said Joel Davis, an attorney for the Fort Sill Apache. “I call on our United States Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich, to honor our history and our culture by protecting the Gila for future generations.”
Designating the rivers and tributaries as Wild and Scenic will sustain the local, rural economies that depend upon time-tested traditions like grazing, ranching, hunting, and fishing. It will also enhance those economies through increased outdoor recreation activities like rafting and paddling, horseback riding, wildlife watching, and hiking and camping. Outdoor recreation is big business in New Mexico: Every year it generates nearly $10 billion in consumer spending, roughly $3 billion in wages and salaries, $623 million in state and local tax revenues, and directly employs 99,000 people.
“The Gila and San Francisco Rivers are a powerful economic driver in Western New Mexico. People come from near and far to explore all that Grant County has to offer, and that keeps the wheels of our local economy turning,” added Diana Ingalls Leyba, owner of L&I Arts.
To speak with any of delegation traveling to Washington, D.C., please contact Joey Keefe (505-259-4471, joey@nmwild.org) to schedule an interview.
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