ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – National Wildlife Federation President and CEO Collin O’Mara joined Sens. Martin Heinrich and Tom Udall and the New Mexico Wildlife Federation Tuesday to celebrate the first-ever public access to New Mexico’s Sabinoso Wilderness. They noted that reauthorizing and fully funding the Land and Water Conservation Fund is key to expanding access to public lands and fishing and hunting opportunities.
“Among the National Wildlife Federation’s top priorities are restoring America’s wildlife populations, conserving public lands, and ensuring that Americans have access to them, whether for hunting, fishing, hiking, camping, paddling or watching wildlife,” O’Mara said. “We’re proud of the incredible work by New Mexicans to open the Sabinoso Wilderness to public access and our celebration today is a testament to the efforts of Sens. Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich and sportsmen in partnership with Secretary Zinke and the Interior Department and conservation organizations, like the Wilderness Land Trust and the New Mexico Wildlife Federation.
“America’s public lands belong to all of us and we must all continue to work together to protect and enhance our public lands legacy, including reauthorizing and fully funding one of our most important conservation programs–the Land and Water Conservation Fund,” O’Mara added.
New Mexico Wildlife Federation Acting Executive Director Todd Leahy said:
“New Mexico’s public lands, state parks, and restoration projects have benefited greatly from the Land and Water Conservation Fund so we are looking forward to coming together with our partners to highlight this crucial program. Our senators have long been champions of LWCF as well as public lands access so we are honored to host this event with our partners who have worked side by side for conservation projects over the years. We hope this event will bring the importance of LWCF to the forefront of New Mexicans’ minds and inspire our entire New Mexico delegation to support permanently reauthorizing LWCF.”