Luis Torres: Citizen Speaks Up for Clean Water, Wild Forests

Testimony of Luis Torres

Over the past 66 years I have lived, attended school and worked in several counties of northern New Mexico. Throughout my lifetime I have had a significant and highly enjoyable relationship with the mountains, streams and wildlife of this region. I was born and raised on a small ranch; our family’s principal source of income derived from our cattle which grazed part of the year on Forest Service administered land in close proximity to our home. Most of what supported our livelihood including our drinking and irrigation water came directly from the mountains behind our home. As an adult I worked in the mountains for both the Forest Service and the Park Service. At the national level, I have participated in an advisory capacity with the National Academy of Science and the Office of Technology Assessment. Locally, along with numerous other involvements, I served on the Carson National Forest’s Forest Plan Working Group and just recently helped write and edit the Rio Chama Watershed Restoration Action Strategy.

From this perspective, I offer the following observation: The quality of the water in our streams and rivers is dangerously degraded, and likewise the quantity has diminished. I have witnessed both the diminishing quantities and the deteriorating quality throughout my entire life. Not only has this phenomena been continuous during this period, but also it has progressively accelerated. Activities that result in deteriorated and diminished waters consistently out strip any remedial actions. This trend must be stopped and then reversed if coming generations are to inherit an inhabitable world from us! I believe that the proposed actions attendant to Clean Water, Wild Forest merit consideration at the highest levels of both our state and federal governments.


 

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