Monumental uncertainty
Advocates await president’s decision on national monuments
Without clear word about which of the national monuments on the Department of the Interior’s review list will be shrunk, wild space advocates including Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., and a spokeswoman for Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., gathered Thursday afternoon to reiterate their vehement support for the status-quo.
“Keep your hands off our lands,” said Michael Casaus, New Mexico director for The Wilderness Society, during a news conference put together in anticipation of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s Thursday release of his review of 27 national monuments — including two in New Mexico.
But Zinke’s announcement created more questions than answers, since he said that no monuments would be reverted to their previous designations, but some would be reduced in size. The public won’t know which until the president reviews the proposal, he said.
That left the group gathered at the REI outdoor store Thursday afternoon frustrated and apprehensive.
“We should all know this threat is not gone,” said Bianca OrtizWertheim, chief of staff for Udall.
In a letter from Udall she read to the crowd, Ortiz-Wertheim said Udall pledged a court battle if the monuments are amended.
And Heinrich said he would keep fighting for the monuments, saying that he spent some of “the best days of my life in these places.”
Julia Bernal, of the Pueblo Action Alliance, said that federal protections currently in place are a good step toward protecting lands considered sacred to Native American tribes in New Mexico and the Southwest.
“Our lands have always been sacred. It’s the government’s responsibility to keep these promises and not take them back again,” she said.