Pearce Introduces Bill Returning Wilderness Areas to BLM

Statement

Today, Congressman Steve Pearce introduced H.R. 3478, the Luna and Hidalgo Counties Wilderness Study Area Release Act of 2015. The bill would return certain wilderness study areas (WSA's) in Luna and Hidalgo Counties -- deemed unsuitable for federal wilderness designation -- to the BLM so that they may be used for other purposes.

The BLM previously conducted studies to see if the areas covered in this bill should be designated as wilderness. The studies concluded that these areas are unsuitable for wilderness, but under current law and regulations they cannot be utilized by the BLM until Congress acts. For this reason, such areas are still managed as wilderness areas, which is one of the most restricted categories of federally managed lands. By shutting off large parcels of land from investment or development, this has had an extremely negative impact on job creation in the mainly rural communities that border them.

"These lands have now been sitting in limbo for over 20 years," said Pearce. "It benefits no one to arbitrarily restrict lands from the public. Allowing the BLM to open up these lands for multiple uses will not only benefit communities economically, but also restore habitats and watersheds, increase revenues, and create jobs. Utilizing this land will truly benefit communities across New Mexico. It will also make government more effective by allowing regulators to focus on the management and protection of the wilderness they already have. It is time for Congress to act and to allow local communities to benefit from these lands."

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