The Las Cruces Home Builders Association has officially signed onto the movement to get a number of areas around the county designated as wilderness after forging an agreement to give developers a little more breathing space on the East Mesa.
Jeff Steinborn, who heads the southern New Mexico office of the Wilderness Alliance, announced the pact Wednesday, Sept. 12, at the Doña Ana County Government Center with representatives from the homebuilders group.
Weisner Road on the far eastern boundary of Las Cruces was originally the "line in the sand" that was being drawn by wilderness proposal advocates. Right now, that road is little more than a line on the map, except where it provides an entrance to an equipment yard and offices of the state Transportation Department off of U.S. Highway 70-Bataan Memorial Highway.
One of the problems with that idea, however, was that Weisner Road also is being seen as a traffic relief route along the eastern edge of the city to eventually connect with Interstate Highway 10 near Mesquite.
Because developers pay for building new roads, however, development on both sides of Weisner Road needs to be permitted for it to become a traffic relief route, said Judd Singer, past president of the homebuilders' group who negotiated the resolution.
Now the line for a National Conservation Area is set back from the proposed road by a half mile and forms a two-mile cushion wherever possible along the contours of the main range of mountains, Steinborn said With the wilderness supporters willing to make the compromise, LCHBA has agreed to support the other 10 proposed wilderness areas around the county, That's significant, Steinborn said, because it shows support by the industry that is driving the city's growth.
Michele Marshall, LCHBA's CEO, said this really shouldn't surprise people because many of the local builders come from families who have been here for generations and have no desire to build into the upper foothills of the mountain range that for many defines the city. Without legislative protections, the land could be released and developed by out-of-town developers, she said.
"This will create the greatest level of protection from large-scale development," Marshall said.
The Citizens Proposal is asking Congress to designate a total of more than 300,000 acres as wilderness. Of that total, the east and west Potrillos, along with the Aden Lava Flow and Mt. Riley encompasses more than 197,000 acres in the southwest section of the county. Besides being used by hunters and outdoor enthusiasts, the area also is used for ranching. The proposal for the Robledo Mountains, which includes Broad Canyon near Radium Springs, encompasses 75,966 acres.
Other nominated areas in the county include 11,068 acres in the Sierra de Las Uvas northwest of the Robledos and 20,800 acres in the Organ Mountains, which includes Peña Blanca and the Organ Needles.
The Citizens Proposal also calls for the establishment of a National Conservation Area in the Organ Mountains, which includes the Doña Ana Mountains and Tortugas Mountain. This new agreement takes 7,000 acres out of the picture for the NCA portion of the proposal, which now encompasses 96,469 acres. Still, the Citizens Proposal would create an NCA not only in the Organs, but for Tortugas Mountain and the Doña Ana Mountains. Much of this area is in what the Bureau of Land Management calls an Area of Critical Environmental Concern, which Steinborn said is simply a BLM administrative decision that leaves the door open to possible future development unless it becomes a NCA.
This is the second example of Wilderness Alliance staff willing to work out a compromise solution to the proposal that is unpopular with some ranchers and off-road enthusiasts. Recently, a similar pact was forged with hunting groups to revise proposed boundaries in the Potrillo and Robledo mountains to quell concerns about access.
