President threatens public lands
Development and degradation of wild places violate our duty to be stewards of creation
Our public lands, comprised of 600 million acres of mountains, forests, rivers and plains held in trust by all Americans, are under threat. Last month President Trump issued an executive order opening millions of acres of public lands to coal mining, and earlier this year the House of Representatives proposed selling off 3 million acres of federal lands in Western states including New Mexico. The proposal was withdrawn amid public outcry, but the threat to sell our public lands to the highest bidder remains. Another proposal introduced in Congress would transfer management of 2 million acres of pristine national forests to the states for timber production, and in New Mexico, we continue to see proposals to transfer federal lands to state control.
The sale or transfer of our public lands for use by private corporations is only one of many threats, including threats posed by fossil fuel extraction and climate change. Most of our public lands are already open to oil and gas drilling, even while this drilling has been shown to negatively impact public health, wildlife, and the surrounding environment. In our own community, access to land that the Navajo have used to collect firewood, their primary source of heat, has now been closed due to fracking. The increased traffic from heavy vehicles carrying oil and gas has also severely damaged dirt roads that are the main access points for people to get in and out of their homes and which are critical to their ability to get medical care.
Additionally, the EPA warns of the impact of a warming climate on national wildlife refuges and national forests. In New Mexico, temperatures in the Jemez Mountains have risen faster during the 20th century than in any other place in the state, leading to massive forest fires and a severe drought that killed nearly all mature piñon pines.
When considering the challenges posed to our national forests and wildlife refuges, as a pastor at Tokahookaadi Church of the Brethren and director of Lybrook Community Ministries, I am guided by my faith and by my experience ministering to the Navajo for the past three and a half years. The Bible teaches that human beings are stewards of the earth, called by God to care for creation. Indeed, the land belongs not to us, but to God; the Psalms declare that “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it” (Psalm 24:1). Our public lands system honors these sacred principles, ensuring that millions of acres are preserved and protected for all who call this land home, including thousands of animal species.
As someone who ministers to Native Americans, I am also deeply aware of the important role public lands play in preserving their cultural heritage. Just last year President Obama established Bears Ears National Monument in response to requests from a coalition of 30 Native American tribes and their allies to protect sacred sites and ancestral lands that are still being used by local tribes for hunting and gathering. The 2014 designation of the Organ Mountains near Las Cruces as a national monument protects lands of great significance to the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo tribe.
In addition to protecting sites sacred to Native Americans, our public lands are a source of endless wonder and spiritual rejuvenation for all people. Our national forests are critical to fighting global warming by capturing carbon, and our wildlife refuges protect endangered species by safeguarding critical habitat. As Scripture teaches, we must be good stewards of these lands, caring for what God has called “good.” Now is not the time to open our public lands to new development but rather to strengthen protections for our shared wild places so that future generations can enjoy their beauty and bounty. (The nation just marked) National Parks Week, April 15-23. I encourage you to contact your state and federal representatives and urge them to safeguard our shared wild places today and for future generations.