Jeff Bingaman United States Senator from New Mexico

WASHINGTON – The United States Senate today approved a package of bills introduced by U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman. The package contains several provisions to protect important sites in New Mexico. The package, which falls under the jurisdiction of Bingaman's Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, must now be cleared by the House of Representatives before it can be signed into law.

Among the measures included in the package is Bingaman's "Prehistoric Trackways National Monument Establishment Act", which seeks to protect 290 million-year old fossilized animal tracks in the Robledo Mountains in Doña Ana County.  Specifically, the bill would create a new national monument out of approximately 5,367 acres of Bureau of Land Management land and preserve it for further scientific investigation.  
 
"This bill will protect an important historical and scientific discovery in Doña Ana County and will preserve it for generations to come," said Bingaman, who chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

The package also includes Bingaman's Forest Landscape Restoration Act, which authorizes $40 million annually for landscape-scale forest restoration projects that cover 50,000 acres or more. Competitive grants would be awarded to restoration projects that are developed in collaboration with local communities. Eligible projects must be in need of ecosystem restoration, utilize the best-available science, encourage the use of restoration byproducts such as woody biomass, and be located primarily on National Forest System land. 

"Forest restoration is key to preventing wildfires. This bill will help New Mexico communities fund large-scale forest restoration projects," Bingaman said.

Additionally, the package includes legislation Bingaman introduced that clears title to several tracks of land and paves the way for the city of Albuquerque to complete its development of a Biological Park along the middle Rio Grande. The Biological Park incorporates the Rio Grande Botanical Garden, Tingley Beach, the Zoo and the Aquarium. 

"This legislation will allow the city to advance its effort to preserve the bosque and open new areas of it for public use," Bingaman said. 

Also in the package is a bill Bingaman co-authored to provide federal protection to the Snowy River formation within the Fort Stanton Cave in Lincoln County.

The Fort Stanton-Snowy River Cave National Conservation Area Act, which was first introduced in the last Congress by then-Senator Pete Domenici, will provide permanent protection to the Snowy River formation and protect it for future research and educational purposes. The formation contains a more than 4-mile-long continuous calcite-crystal river bed that is believed to be the longest one of its kind in the world.

"The Snowy River passage is a truly unique find. This legislation would create a conservation plan to see that it is protected," Bingaman said. 

Additionally, the package contains the National Landscape Conservation System Act, a measure sponsored by Bingaman, that codifies the National Landscape Conservation System, the collection of national monuments, national conservation areas, wilderness areas, wild and scenic rivers and other landscapes on public lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). 

Finally, the bill contains two measures that allow for the exchange of land in the Santa Fe National Forest; Pecos National Historical Park Land Exchange; Santa Fe National Forest Land Conveyance.