ABQ Times

WASHINGTON—During May 24 House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations hearing, Ranking Member Stansbury (N.M.-01) demonstrated how managing public lands for multiple uses benefits New Mexico and the nation’s communities. Ranking Member Stansbury called New Mexico Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard to testify before the Subcommittee about her strategy to achieve record-breaking public land royalty revenue and implement land lease modernization. 

VIDEO LINK: Rep. Stansbury’s opening remarks are here.

Ranking Member Stansbury also pushed back against attempts by House Republicans to cast the Bureau of Land Management (BLM)’s proposed land management rule to put conservation on equal footing with other land uses as “limiting access” to federal lands, noting that the rule will increase consultation with communities and open lands to multiple uses to combat climate change. 

“Until now, there has not been an effective mechanism to also ensure effective landscape level and conservation needs,” Ranking Member Stansbury said. “BLM's proposed rule, which we're here to discuss today, will help to fulfill the congressional mandate of multiple use by creating conservation leases, and by allowing federal lands for mitigation of harms from other developments like energy infrastructure.” 

Ranking Member Stansbury continued by highlighting New Mexico’s leadership under State Land Commissioner Garcia Richard. “New Mexico has boldly initiated a pilot conservation leasing program of its own under her leadership. And like so many other things New Mexico is leading the way thanks to leaders like Ms. Garcia Richard.” 

Ranking Member Stansbury’s full opening statement as delivered is below. 

Hearing from individuals across our communities who represent states and local governments is indeed, very important.  

But I will note, as we're getting started on this hearing, that this is an Oversight hearing over primarily a BLM rule. And I think it's noticeable to note that BLM is actually not present in the room because they were not invited.  

So while it's important to hear from our communities, I think in our oversight role, it's also important to hear from the agencies themselves.  

We all have places that are important and even sacred to us. For me, in my hometown of Albuquerque, New Mexico, it's the Sandia Mountains, which I live near. For many of our communities, these spaces are not only important to their cultures, to their history, but also to the continuation of their identities as people. For indigenous communities, it's places like Chaco Canyon, Bears Ears, and Oak Flat. For our Land Grants and other communities that use these lands as working lands they're important places to gather firewood, for sustaining ranching and for other resource needs.  

And of course, these lands are vital to the continued conservation not only of special places, but also the lands water and habitat that sustain us on this planet. And that is really what is at the heart of today's conversation.  

Our communities began a movement more than a century ago to manage our lands at scale. The goal of this management was to make sure that we were preserving those important places and sustainably managing those so that we could ensure the integrity of those landscapes.

To manage these places effectively at scale, we need the best science, the best management tools, and the best ability to collaborate at the local level. That includes working with federal, state and tribal policies through grants and partnerships, tribal co-management, sustainable stewardship and public private partnerships with private landowners.  

To help provide the federal government with these tools and make clear that the lands were to be managed for multiple uses, Congress passed the Federal Land Policy Management Act in 1976. And while Congress mandated the lands be managed for multiple uses, conservation has long been pushed aside.  

In fact, 90% of all lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management, which I will note were actually Indigenous lands long before the United States arrived, are actually open for oil and gas leasing. Most BLM lands are also open to hardrock mining, and more than 60% of BLM lands are leased for grazing.  

Up until now, there has not been an effective mechanism to also ensure effective landscape level and conservation needs. BLM's proposed rule, which we're here to discuss today will help to fulfill the congressional mandate of multiple use by creating conservation leases by allowing federal lands for mitigation of harms from other developments like energy infrastructure and other development.  

The rule will help to accelerate transitions to renewable energy, while encouraging restoration of sensitive lands and protection of cultural landscapes.  

It's helpful for land managers as well, as we'll hear today, from our various witnesses, and I especially want to welcome the one and only Stephanie Garcia Richard who is the Commissioner of Public Lands from New Mexico.  

New Mexico has boldly initiated a pilot conservation leasing program of its own under her leadership. And like so many other things New Mexico is leading the way thanks to leaders like Ms. Garcia Richard.  

Another federal land management tool, which we're going to discuss today is the Antiquities Act. When Congress has failed to act, seventeen of the last twenty-one presidents, including the previous administration, have used the authorities under the Antiquities Act to create 161 monuments. These monuments include iconic landscapes that we cherish.  

In New Mexico, it's places like Chaco Canyon, El Morro, our Gila Cliff Dwellings, and Tent Rocks, places that are not only beautiful but sacred and culturally important. Nationally, it's the Grand Canyon, Olympic Park, Natural Bridges in Denver, and Devil's Tower.

These are places that are not only sacred and important, they are part of the iconic landscapes that define us as a country. And the Antiquities Act is a crucial land management tool to help ensure that we're able to protect these lands.  

The public lands rule that we're discussing here today will help to bring us closer to the goal of a climate resilient, ecologically intact and culturally preserved landscape.  

It will correct biases in current practices, which Congress intended when it passed the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, and along with the Antiquities Act, which is wildly popular across the West, will help to protect sacred places and ensure that we are preserving these landscapes that are important for our communities for generations to come. And with that, I yield back. 

Issues: Economy and Jobs Energy, Climate & Environment Tribal Sovereignty

Original source can be found here.