SENATE JOINT MEMORIAL 20

54th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2019

INTRODUCED BY

Carlos R. Cisneros

FOR THE LAND GRANT COMMITTEE

A JOINT MEMORIAL

EXPRESSING SUPPORT FOR CARSON NATIONAL FOREST PLAN REVISION ALTERNATIVE 3 AND EXPRESSING OPPOSITION TO WILD AND SCENIC RIVER DESIGNATION FOR THE THREE FORKS OF THE RIO SANTA BARBARA, KNOWN AS "CR 31" WITHIN THE CARSON NATIONAL FOREST.

     WHEREAS, for generations, small, rural and historically isolated communities in New Mexico have depended on the health of the surrounding forests, grasslands and rivers as their primary sources of water, fuel, food, medicine and building materials; and

     WHEREAS, the health and safety of traditional forest-dependent, gateway and land grant communities remain dependent on the health of their surrounding lands, particularly with regard to the quantity and quality of water flowing from them and their susceptibility to catastrophic wildfire; and

     WHEREAS, in 2017, the legislature passed House Joint Memorial 3 that recognized the socioeconomic and cultural connections between traditional forest-dependent, gateway and land grant communities and adjacent national forest lands; and

     WHEREAS, the Carson national forest is currently in the process of revising its forest plan; and

     WHEREAS, some forest-dependent, gateway and land grant communities adjacent to the Carson national forest are conducting or developing projects designed to remove small- diameter timber from forest lands and improve watershed health; and

     WHEREAS, the Carson national forest has identified five alternatives for its revised forest plan, and alternative 3 would maximize access and commodity use; and

     WHEREAS, the forest plan revision process for the Carson national forest is examining whether to recommend to congress that the three forks of the Rio Santa Barbara, river segments designated as "CR 31", be given wild and scenic river status; and

     WHEREAS, a wild and scenic river designation for CR 31 may limit management activities for adjacent lands, including a prohibition against mechanical removal of downed trees and other potential fire fuels; and

     WHEREAS, La Merced de Santa Barbara, a land grant community established in the 1700s, has expressed a particular need for active management of CR 31 within the one and one-half mile segment between the Pecos wilderness and the Santa Barbara campground due to a historic pattern of fuel accumulation within that segment;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that support be expressed for Carson national forest plan revision alternative 3; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that opposition be expressed for the federal wild and scenic river designation of the portions of the Rio Santa Barbara designated as CR 31 in the Carson national forest's planning documents; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the regional forester for region 3 of the United States forest service, the forest supervisor for the Carson national forest and the members of the New Mexico congressional delegation.

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