Roadless Facts, by the Numbers:
- 9,327,000 – Total national forest acres in New Mexico
- 1,597,000 - Number of roadless acres
- 17% - Percentage of New Mexico’s national forest at risk of being developed over time under the Bush Administration’s plan
- 22 - Number of public meetings and hearings on Roadless Area Conservation Rule in New Mexico in 1999
- 20,041 - Number of comments generated in New Mexico in support of Roadless Area Conservation Rule (last comment period)
- 859,074 – people who participated in outdoor recreation in New Mexico in 2003
All figures are from the US Forest Service, unless otherwise noted. Map of New Mexico’s National Forests courtesy of http://roadless.fs.fed.us/maps/usmap2.shtml See website for individual maps of roadless areas.
Editorial Comments:
"Forest Service chief Mark Rey, the onetime timber lobbyist, has spent much of his public tenure lobbying his boss, ag-secretary Ann Veneman, to turn the bulldozers loose on the 60 million acres Clinton had set aside."
-- Santa Fe New Mexican, "GOP should loosen ties to bulldozers, chainsaws," July 16, 2004
For More Information
- Oscar Simpson, President, NM Wildlife Federation, 505-345-0117
- Leon Fager, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, Southwest Coordinator, 505-235-4455
- Nathan Newcomer, New Mexico Wilderness Alliance, 508-843-8696, ext. 107
