Chapter Presents Plan to Protect San Juan Badlands

Nov 13, 2009 - The Rio Grande Chapter of the Sierra Club met with BLM officials to propose creation of the San Juan Basin National Monument today.

Compared to the 63-million-year-old rain forest goliaths scattered throughout Ceja Pelon Badlands, a few months time is far less than a blink of an eye; yet in human terms, much has happened. The Rio Grande Chapter Executive Committee was sufficiently impressed by the positive interest from BLM’s Rio Puerco Field Office staff to their September 22 Ceja Pelon tour that the Committee agreed to further pursue protective measures for the unique badlands in the San Juan Basin. We requested a meeting with the Rio Puerco Field Office, which was held on November 13. Nineteen people attended, including 6 Sierra Club activists, Tom Gow, the director of the Rio Puerco Office, along with 10 BLM staff, Dr. Richard Kozoll from Cuba, and Matt Zadovsky from Martin Heinrich’s office.

We presented a draft action proposal with goals organized sequentially;

1) short-term administrative actions;

2) placement by Congressional action into the National Landscape Conservation System;

3) establishment of a San Juan Basin National Monument to include 10 (or more) badlands, linked by U.S. 550, which could become a NM Scenic Byway.

Activists and the Rio Puerco Office are now working on the first step – to establish precise boundaries for Ceja Pelon, Penistaja, and Mesa De Cuba badlands.Once that is achieved, we are requesting the following BLM administrative actions be taken:

1. Place above areas and Ojito Wilderness off-limits to all: a) mineral and fossil collecting including petrified wood; b) wood cutting of live or dead trees; c) off-road vehicle travel.

2. Close any unnecessary roads and routes, including several already identified in the Ceja Pelon, Penistaja, and Mesa De Cuba areas.

3. Offer no new grazing leases and place fragile areas off-limits to all grazing.

Stay tuned for further updates. Meanwhile, if you would like to be involved in our Badlands project, please contact me at 505/255-1016 or Norma Mc-Callan at 505/471-0005. And note that the next Badlands tour is on March 13 to Penistaja.—Michael Richie