No debate over northern NM’s national monument
The Trump administration has started the process of potentially reducing the size of Bear Ears National Historic Monument in Utah, with a recommendation to revise the monument’s boundaries from Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke.
The Bear Ears monument faced opposition from Utah politicians and others before President Obama granted the designation. Those opponents have continued to be vocal as the presidential view of public lands has changed under a new administration.
There’s a debate, in other words, about the fate of the latest piece of southern Utah’s spectacular scenery scattered with important Native American cultural sites to come under National Park Service protections.
But there was, and is, no debate in any meaningful sense of the word about Obama’s designation in 2013 of the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument in northern New Mexico, which includes the amazing Rio Grande Gorge and the 10,000-foot-high Ute Mountain among its 242,000 acres.
The Rio Grande del Norte was supported by a broad coalition of groups, not just environmental advocates.
Here are some of the members of the Rio Grande del Norte Coalition, which pushed for creation of the monument:
From the business perspective: the Taos County ■ and Mora Valley Chambers of Commerce, The Taos Business Alliance, the Taos Tourism Council and more than 150 local businesses.
From the hunting, fishing and conservation ■ perspective: Trout Unlimited, the New Mexico Wildlife Federation, Southwest Consolidated Sportsmen, New Mexico Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, and the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership.
From the environmental perspective: Amigos ■
Bravos, Audubon New Mexico, New Mexico Wilderness Alliance, the Sierra Club, the Taos Land Trust, the Wilderness Society and the Western Environmental Law Center.
Also: the League of United Latin American Citizens, the Hondo Mesa Community Association, New Energy Economy and Organizers in the Land of Enchantment (OLÈ).
People in northern New Mexico came together to support the national monument. That, and the impressive natural features it contains, should be enough to protect its existence as the argument over public lands continues on the national level.
When Obama created the national monument, Taos Mesa Brewing Company — not far from the gorge — came up with a celebratory brew, christened Rio Grande del Norte National Monument Pale Ale. Samples were sent to the president and others in Washington, D.C., as a token of appreciation,
The Trump administration should look elsewhere if it wants to expand its challenge to Obama’s national monument designations. Trump doesn’t drink, but maybe Taos Mesa Brewery can promise another special beer for those who do partake — if the new administration just decides to leave well enough alone.