Hundreds of people rallied in Santa Fe on Monday against proposals to sell public lands and national monuments in New Mexico. The rally coincided with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum’s appearance at the Western Governors’ Association.
Protestors gathered at De Vargas Park where New Mexico Wild hosted a peaceful march to El Dorado Hotel, where Burgum was speaking.
Laruen Leib, a Bureau of Land Management employee, said she was insulted by the claim that federal employees can’t manage public lands.
“They're park rangers saving lives out on these rivers. They're firefighters responding to these massive forest fires that are only going to get worse. They're coming after federal employees, and now they're coming after federal lands. And we're here to say enough is enough,” she said.
Leib pointed out that Santa Fe is supported by tourism that revolves around public lands.
“And if you don't have those scenic, wild rivers, if you don't have the gorge, like, you know, access to all of these beautiful, amazing sites, the tourism economy will also collapse,” she said.
The AP reports a budget proposal from Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee in the GOP’s tax cut package would mandate the sale of more than 2 million acres of federal lands to state or other entities.
Judith Broussard, a BLM intern, said Burgum needs to listen to what Americans are saying.
“There's a reason all these people came out here on a 90- some odd degree day in the middle of the afternoon,” she said. “People took off work. They made signs. That's a lot of effort on a Monday in the middle of the month.”
She reiterated that Burgum is a public servant.
“Because if there's no public lands, you don't have a job either,” said Broussard.
74- year- old Jacqueline Doherty, grew up in Santa Fe and said if New Mexico starts selling public land, it will be something the state will regret.
“Because once that happens, I don't think there's any going back. And so we need to prevent this from happening,” she said.
Governor of Santa Clara Pueblo James Naranjo said Indigenous people have traditional ties to monuments like Chaco Canyon, Tent Rocks, and Mesa Verde.
“And we got to protect them. Those are our ways of life, and that's what we believe in. And we need everybody to help and pray so that those things continue for generations and generations to come,” he said.
Naranjo said Burgum and the President need to open their hearts and minds to Americans.
“To see that they’re hurting not only us in New Mexico, but hurting the whole country. He's our leader. He needs to believe in all of us and listen to us,” he said.
The Senate is expected to vote on its version of the budget reconciliation bill before it recesses on July 4.
The Associated Press contributed to this story. Support for this coverage comes from the Thornburg Foundation.
