WildEarth Guardians

Monday, October 30, 2006
Roadless Forest Streams Nominated for Permanent Protection

New Mexico Asked to Designate Pristine Waters Under Clean Water Act
Contact: WildEarth Guardians

Santa Fe, NM - A coalition of conservation and wildlife groups has asked the State of New Mexico to protect some of the state’s cleanest waters that flow from its roadless national forests. The groups filed a formal petition with the New Mexico Water Quality Control Commission to name the waters inside of the Inventoried Roadless Areas on the Santa Fe National Forests abovethe cities of Pecos and Las Vegas as Outstanding National Resource Waters (ONRWs).

The Clean Water Act designation would permanently protect the critical source of drinking water for the City of Las Vegas, provide a measure of protection for the roadless forests in which these waters are found, and protect healthy landscapes for future generations of humans and wildlife. The groups filing the petition are WildEarth Guardians, New Mexico Wildlife Federation, New Mexico Wilderness Alliance, and the Sierra Club.

Among the streams nominated for protection are the Pecos and Gallinas rivers and numerous of their tributaries, which provide abundant habitat for fish and wildlife and a variety of recreational opportunities. The Pecos Wilderness Area alone receives 48,000 site visits annually for a contribution of $2.6 million to the State. The rivers not only provide municipal drinking water but also vital water for traditional agriculture downstream. In total, the nomination callsfor the protection of more than 100 miles of waterway.

“This is our legacy for future generations: a secure source of clean and abundant water,” said Bryan Bird, Forest Program Director for WildEarth Guardians. “The roadless forests of New Mexico and their clean waters deserve every measure of protection possible. Worth $42 million annually, we want to be certain the clean, abundant waters of these forests are passed on to our children as well as the wildlife that depend upon functional ecosystems.”

The petitioners argue that the ecological, recreational, and economic values of these waters and the roadless forests that act as a reservoir and filter deserve long-term protection. The roadless forests in San Miguel County alone generate approximately 17 individual jobs and $424,000 in personal income annually. The New Mexico state fish, the Rio Grande cutthroat trout, occupies a number of the waters and genetically pure populations are only found in limited locations in five New Mexico drainages.

The petition is a part of an innovative strategy that responds to the Bush administration’s repealof the Roadless Area Conservation Rule of 2001. Though a California judge ruled last monththat Bush’s replacement policy for managing roadless areas violates the National EnvironmentalPolicy Act, the Bush administration has made it clear that it does not intend to reinstate theRoadless Area Conservation Rule. This leaves 58.5 million acres of roadless areas across thecountry and 1.6 million in New Mexico unprotected from logging, mining, oil and gasdevelopment and other damaging activities. Rather than wait for this legal limbo to be workedout in the courts, the coalition pursuing this alternative and complementary approach. By askingthe State to designate waters inside Inventoried Roadless Areas as ONRWs, the coalition hopesto protect both the roadless forests threatened by Bush’s policy and keep the clean waters theseforests naturally provide forever clean.

“The quality of the water in our streams and rivers is dangerously degraded and likewise thequantity has diminished,” said Luis Torres, a lifetime resident of northern New Mexico.“This trend must be stopped and then reversed if coming generations are to inherit aninhabitable world from us. I believe that the proposed protections merit consideration at thehighest levels of both our state and federal governments.”

If designated as an ONRW by the Commission, the quality of the waters in these roadless forestscan never be polluted beyond their current condition. The nominated rivers and streams are allunder U.S. Forest Service jurisdiction and meet the criteria for ONRW designation because ofthe exceptional recreational and ecological values of these waters. The group’s petition followson the Commission’s nearly unanimous designation of the waters of the Valle Vidal as ONRWsin December. Broad water protections are not unprecedented; states such as Montana andWyoming have named all surface waters in national parks, national wilderness or primitive areasas ONRWs.

Governor Richardson recently announced his “Year of Water” agenda, a $100 million packageincluding funding for conservation and environmental restoration. The action of the petitionerstoday complements and supports the Governor’s water agenda.

"Water is the most precious natural resource we have in New Mexico. In our state, water islife; and it makes good sense to protect the Pecos River Headwaters as Outstanding NationalResource Waters (ONRW).” said Joanna Prukop, Cabinet Secretary, Energy, Minerals andNatural Resources Department (EMNRD). “This designation will make sure that the PecosHeadwaters are protected for public enjoyment, for agriculture and for our native cutthroattrout population. This effort will also help us permanently protect vital watersheds in someof New Mexico’s most pristine wilderness and Roadless Areas."

Though infrequently invoked until recently, the Clean Water Act’s antidegradation policy, andmore specifically its ONRW provision which allows for the protection of a state’s highest qualityand most valued waters, is an eminently common-sense tool to protect these waters and roadlessareas in perpetuity. By allowing citizen’s to nominate streams and then advocate for theirprotection this tool allows for the engagement of the citizenry in the state’s effort to protectthem. The State Water Quality Control Commission (Commission) will now schedule a publichearing to consider the petition. This petition is the first of several the groups intend to submitaimed at protecting all of the roadless forests in the state of New Mexico and their high-qualitywaters.

Protecting the state’s most pristine waters and roadless forests from further degradation bydesignating ONRWs is the foundation for long-term restoration and maintenance of the integrityof New Mexico’s waters and forests. Importantly, ONRW designation would not limit current,existing uses; it merely ensures the protection and restoration of current water quality for thefuture. Protecting these waters and forests now by designating them as ONRWs is an investmentin New Mexico that will pay off in long-term dividends for its residents.

Contacts: Bryan Bird, WildEarth Guardians, (505) 988-9126 x157/ (505) 501-4488 (cell) Joanna Prukop, Secretary EMNRD, (505) 476-3226 Cruz Roybal, Las Vegas City Councilor, (505) 429-4258

Figure 1. Panchuela Creek in the roadless forests of the Pecos Headwaters is nominated for ONRW. Photo by James Ewert. Photos may be reproduced without permission.

Figure 2. Fly fisherman on Panchuela Creek in the Inventoried Roadless Forests of the Pecos Headwaters.Photo by James Ewert. Photos may be reproduced without permission.