Santa Fe, NM, USA, October 31, 2006 (XTVWorld.Com) -- 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 above the 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 Forest 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 calls for 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 Forest 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 repeal of the Roadless Area Conservation Rule of 2001. Though a California judge ruled last month that Bush's replacement policy for managing roadless areas violates the National Environmental Policy Act, the Bush administration has made it clear that it does not intend to reinstate the Roadless Area Conservation Rule. This leaves 58.5 million acres of roadless areas across the country and 1.6 million in New Mexico unprotected from logging, mining, oil and gas development and other damaging activities. Rather than wait for this legal limbo to be worked out in the courts, the coalition pursuing this alternative and complementary approach. By asking the State to designate waters inside Inventoried Roadless Areas as ONRWs, the coalition hopes to protect both the roadless forests threatened by Bush's policy and keep the clean waters these forests naturally provide forever clean.

"The quality of the water in our streams and rivers is dangerously degraded and likewise the quantity 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 an inhabitable world from us. I believe that the proposed protections merit consideration at the highest levels of both our state and federal governments."

If designated as an ONRW by the Commission, the quality of the waters in these roadless forests can never be polluted beyond their current condition. The nominated rivers and streams are all under U.S. Forest Service jurisdiction and meet the criteria for ONRW designation because of the exceptional recreational and ecological values of these waters. The group's petition follows on the Commission's nearly unanimous designation of the waters of the Valle Vidal as ONRWs in December. Broad water protections are not unprecedented; states such as Montana and Wyoming have named all surface waters in national parks, national wilderness or primitive areas as ONRWs. Governor Richardson recently announced his "Year of Water" agenda, a $100 million package including funding for conservation and environmental restoration. The action of the petitioners today complements and supports the Governor's water agenda.

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

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

Protecting the state's most pristine waters and roadless forests from further degradation by designating ONRWs is the foundation for long-term restoration and maintenance of the integrity of 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 the future. Protecting these waters and forests now by designating them as ONRWs is an investment in New Mexico that will pay off in long-term dividends for its residents.

For a copy of the petition, please visit www.fguardians.org

Contact:
Bryan Bird,
Forest 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