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A JOINT MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THAT THE UNITED STATES FOREST SERVICE, IN THE

STATE OF NEW MEXICO, ENSURE THAT THE TRADITIONAL, RURAL,

CULTURAL AND RANCHING WAY OF NEW MEXICAN LIFE WILL NOT BE

ADVERSELY IMPACTED BY ITS OWN TRAVEL MANAGEMENT PROPOSAL OF

MOTORIZED ROUTES AND THAT ANY NEW MEXICO NATIONAL FOREST

PLANS UNDERGOING REVISION SHOULD CONTAIN CRITERIA TO PROTECT

AND PRESERVE THE TRADITIONAL NEW MEXICAN WAY OF LIFE.

WHEREAS, the United States forest service has created

the travel management rule in order to better manage

recreational off-highway vehicle use, describing it as one of

the four major threats facing the national forests today; and

WHEREAS, according to the United States forest service,

recreational off-highway vehicle use can have various adverse

impacts, including:

A. conflict between recreational off-highway

vehicles and quiet recreationists;

B. impacts to significant historic sites;

C. severe soil erosion and spread of invasive

weeds;

D. disturbance of wildlife habitat and

interruption of wildlife migration;

E. destruction of valuable watersheds and

sedimentation;

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F. wildfires; and

G. vandalism to private property; and

WHEREAS, rangers from the federal bureau of land

management and the United States forest service agree that

off-highway vehicles represent "a significant law enforcement

problem" and are "the biggest drain on ranger's resources and

generate more law enforcement citations than all other

criminal activity combined"; and

WHEREAS, the United States forest service does not

appear to have a practical plan or budget for enforcement of

the travel management plan or the maintenance of a reasonable

system of motorized routes; and

WHEREAS, areas of the Santa Fe national forest, such as

Glorieta mesa and the Jemez mountains, host unique

archaeological sites and serve as vital wildlife corridors

between core areas in the north and south, allowing species

to migrate and maintain healthy populations; and

WHEREAS, there are ranchers and federal grazing permit

holders in and adjacent to New Mexico's national forests,

some of whom have lived, ranched and gathered wood there for

more than five generations, who have proven themselves to be

responsible, careful stewards of the forest; and

WHEREAS, the Santa Fe national forest management plan

calls for protection of the "traditional, cultural and

ranching way of life" and the United States forest service

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region 3 travel management rule guidelines state: "As a

critical component of allotment management, the

implementation of the TMR should be conducted in careful and

considered consultation with the grazing permit holder"; and

WHEREAS, for more than a year, the Santa Fe national

forest has actively solicited the direct involvement of

recreational off-highway vehicle users by explaining the

travel management rule and requesting input and assisting

this stakeholder group in documenting and mapping their

preferred routes, but the Santa Fe forest service has not

made a similar effort to solicit input from its grazing and

other special use permit holders; and

WHEREAS, there are property owners in or adjacent to the

New Mexico national forests and grazing permit holders that

live in a climate of intimidation, such as on Glorieta mesa,

where ranchers and their families have been shot at, had

their pets killed, livestock harassed and property damaged,

are afraid to speak up for fear of retribution, and in spite

of making these events known to the United States forest

service, there has been no significant action taken to

prevent loss of life or damage to private property or to in

any way deter these criminal activities on forest land; and

WHEREAS, in some national forest areas such as Glorieta

mesa, where there is no history of extensive recreational

off-highway vehicle activity, the little use that exists now

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has created a disproportionate disturbance to the land and

ranchers' livelihoods due to destruction of earthen dams and

stock tanks, livestock escaping from gates left open and

fences cut, harassing of livestock, the creation of

unauthorized roads and general vandalism; and

WHEREAS, the off-road abuse in the Jemez mountains is

monumental, causing extreme erosion, sedimentation of surface

water, trail degradation and illegally created trails,

property damage, intimidation and threat to the property

inholders and grazing permit holders, including one

long-standing rancher who was forced to give up his permit

after motorcyclists repeatedly chased his cattle and severely

rutted the rangeland; and

WHEREAS, it is illegal to operate all-terrain vehicles

on paved roads and there are access roads to the national

forests, such as Santa Fe county road 51, that are unsafe for

off-highway vehicles and trailering, that serve as

"attractive nuisances" for illegal all-terrain-vehicle use

and that recently had one all-terrain vehicle-related death;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE

STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the preservation of traditional

culture be established as a mandatory filter in evaluating

any potential designation of routes open for motorized

travel, requiring the United States forest service to

actively solicit input on motorized route designations from

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all stakeholders in or adjacent to the forest, such as local

ranchers, farmers, other permit holders, adjacent property

owners, in-holders and local quiet recreational interests;

and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the preservation of existing

wildlife habitat and wildlife corridors, as well as

protection of watersheds, rangeland, natural resources and

archaeological sites, be established as a mandatory filter in

evaluating any potential designation of routes open for

motorized travel, particularly as applied to off-highway

vehicle and dirt-bike use; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that safe access to areas

designated for recreational off-highway vehicle traffic,

particularly dirt bikes and all-terrain vehicles, be

established as a mandatory filter in route designation,

prohibiting access directly from roads that are inherently

unsafe for a particular class of vehicle, for example,

off-highway vehicles or dirt bikes, so as not to create an

attractive nuisance that could result in injury or death to

recreationists or rural residents; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that recreational off-highway

vehicle activities be adequately enforced and monitored and

that violation of designated closed routes and areas result

in sufficient penalties and, if any designated routes and

areas are shown to be unenforceable, that they are closed

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permanently or until sufficient enforcement can be

guaranteed; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the United States forest

service seriously consider the recommendations of the

department of game and fish with regard to motorized use in

the New Mexico national forests; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the United States forest

service travel management plan proposed actions be suspended

until adequate input from all major stakeholders can be

collected, that the scoping period for proposed actions be

ninety days and that the state forester and the department of

game and fish be requested to report by December 1, 2008 to

the appropriate committee designated by the New Mexico

legislative council on the United States forest service

response to this memorial; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the United States forest

service, in the process of rewriting their forest plans for

the national forests in New Mexico, should contain criteria

to protect and preserve the traditional New Mexican way of

life; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be

transmitted to the federal secretary of agriculture, the chief

of the United States forest service, the New Mexico

congressional delegation and the state forester.