The Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument is in the process of a new Resource Management Plan (RMP)! Comments are due July 5th.
RMPs are guiding documents for public lands agencies (in this case, the Bureau of Land Management) on how to protect a landscape. An RMP can address:
The BLM has released the alternatives , available on the EPlanning Website. Friends of OMDP is currently evaluating and going through the different alternatives to see what each offers for our community and for the protection of the landscape. Community members and organizations have 90 days to submit comments! (From April 5th – July 5).
Presidential Proclamation 9131 of May 21, 2014
Section 2002 of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009
The Federal Land Policy and Management Act
The 2019 John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act (Pub. L. 116–9)
As the demand for recreation increases in the Monument, there is a need to improve access and connectivity to other less-used areas to reduce pressure on these popular recreation areas. Education and interpretation may also be needed to reduce user conflicts, educate about sensitive resources and traditional uses, and create a culture of preservation among recreationists.
The purpose of this plan is to protect, restore, and enhance the objects of scientific and historic interest in the Monument identified in Presidential Proclamation 9131, while respecting legal existing and traditional uses. The plan should also maintain and enhance recreational opportunities and other uses of the Monument through allocations, education, and interpretation.
The RMP will also safeguard Tribal treaty rights, and will, as provided for in the Proclamation, “in consultation with Indian tribes, ensure the protection of religious and cultural sites in the monument and provide access to the sites by members of Indian tribes for traditional cultural and customary uses, consistent with the American Indian Religious Freedom Act (92 stat. 496, 42 U.S.C. 1996) and Executive Order 13007 of May 24, 1996 (Indian Sacred Sites).” The RMP will respond to continued urban growth and increased tourism in the Las Cruces metropolitan area, changes in recreational uses in the Monument units, designation of new wilderness areas in the Monument, imposition of additional requirements for land acquisitions under Public Law 116–9, new scientific information, and the effects of climate change and livestock grazing.
