Let’s Talk New Mexico 01/16, 8am: From the plains of the Río Grande del Norte to the Gila Cliff Dwellings down South and many others around the state, New Mexico boasts over 2.7 million acres of protected national monuments.
Recently, advocates and politicians alike have put last-minute pressure on the Biden administration to add the culturally significant and ecologically diverse Caja del Rio plateau to the state’s list of protected lands before President-elect Donald Trump takes the White House.
On the next Let’s Talk New Mexico, we’ll explore a controversial proposed power line project through the Caja del Rio that sparked this campaign and talk to the people who recreate and use the landscape on a daily basis.
Should preserving public lands like this be a priority? How do you think the upcoming presidential administration might shift public land use? Are you worried about the future of national monuments? Email letstalk@kunm.org, leave a voice message by clicking the button below, or call (505) 277-5866 Thursday morning at 8.
Guests:
- Garrett VeneKlasen, Northern Conservation Director, New Mexico Wild
- Stephanie Stringer, Associate Deputy Field Office Manager for Business, Security, and Mission, NNSA Los Alamos Field Office
- Hilario Romero, Former NM State Historian, Retired Professor of History, Spanish & Bilingual Education and Author
- Jim James, Attorney, Tesuque Pueblo
Resources, Related Readings:
Antiquities Act of 1906
"The Insidious Plan to Destroy Our National Monuments," Outside Magazine
Read about the proposed “Electrical Power Capacity Upgrade Project"
"Proposed Caja del Rio transmission project near LANL raises concerns," KUNM
"Tribes ‘ignored’ as Forest Service approves controversial Caja del Rio transmission project," KUNM
"An audio postcard from the Caja del Rio plateau," KUNM