Protect Otero Mesa by making it a National Monument

By bestowing National Monument status to Otero Mesa, President Obama can ensure permanence to this unique landscape and habitat.

Thank you for your help on this issue. Sierra Club members and supporters sent more than 600 e-mails to President Obama in support of making Otero Mesa a National Monument.

Otero Mesa is a fragile and beautiful grassland in southern New Mexico. As a New Mexico resident and supporter of the Rio Grande Chapter of the Sierra Club in its protection of our remaining wild areas, I am asking you to grant permanent protection for this unmatched place by conferring upon it National Monument designation.

While congress so far has shown they do not have the vision or leadership to permanently protect this unique resource, you have the authority under the Antiquities Act of 1906 to take this bold but crucial step.

Otero Mesa has been in the sights of oil and gas corporations for years and any shift in power could unleash the drilling that has so far been kept at bay. At stake are not only the largest remaining intact example of Chihuahuan grassland in the United States and the diversity of native wildlife it supports, but also a fresh water aquifer that is considered extensive and vast.

Moreover, such a designation, when it has taken place elsewhere, has proven to be of enormous benefit to the local economy. Otero County is highly dependent on military spending which could prove fickle. Diversification provided by National Monument status would bring in tourist revenue as well as protecting the local environment for the future.