New Mexico has 13,377,963 acres of BLM lands and 9,227,380 acres of National Forests. The last wilderness designated in New Mexico was in 2005, the Ojito Wilderness.
Media Campaigns
This media campaign ran in several New Mexico papers to hilight how diverse supporters of wilderness are, illustrating that wilderness is our common ground. Click each photo to view the respective print ad (PDF), or visit the campaign page.
Bills
Sabinoso
- Bill title:
- Sabinoso Wilderness Act
- Bill number:
- H.R. 2632
- Sponsors:
- Rep. Tom Udall (D-NM)
- Summary:
-
Legislation introduced to designate as wilderness about 20,000 acres situated in San Miguel County. Under the proposal, the Sabinoso BLM land unit, about 40 miles east of Las Vegas and 25 miles northwest of Conchas Dam State Park, would be permanently protected as wilderness. Included in the proposal are lands in and around the Sabinoso Wilderness Study Area. The proposal enjoys the official support of the New Mexico legislature, which unanimously passed Memorial 53 calling on the state's congressional delegation to support the establishment of the Sabinoso Wilderness Area.
- More info:
- New Mexico Wilderness Alliance
Campaigns
Doña Ana County
- Summary:
-
A campaign that has gained publicly voiced support from every community in Doña Ana County to protect 330,000 acres as wilderness and another 100,000 as a National Conservation Area in New Mexico’s Organ Mountains. The mountains are home to a variety of grasses, mixed desert shrubs, piñon-juniper woodland, mixed mountain shrubs, and ponderosa pines. One of the steepest mountain ranges in the West, the Organ Mountains encompass extremely rugged terrain with steep-sided crevices, canyons, and spires.
- More info:
- Doña Ana County Wilderness Coalition
- New Mexico Wilderness Alliance
Organ Mountains; © Ken Stinnett
Ute Mountain
- Summary:
-
A campaign to designate as a national conservation area more than a quarter million acres of wild lands in New Mexico’s Ute Mountain range and Rio Grande Gorge, protecting roadless portions of the Ute and San Antonio Mountains as wilderness. A part of the Rio Grande Migratory Flyway, one of the world’s great migratory routes, the area—home to eagles, falcons, and hawks—is traversed by ospreys, hummingbirds, herons, avocets, merlins, and willits. At the edge of the gorge, fast herds of pronghorn and elk find winter forage and calve and fawn in late spring.
- More info:
- New Mexico Wilderness Alliance
