Make Otero Mesa a National Monument
Sponsored by the Southwest Environmental Center
For more information send email to Jason Burke
What we are asking
Call Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar at
202-208-3801
to say something like the following:
I am calling to urge Secretary Salazar to make Otero Mesa in Southern New Mexico a National Monument. New Mexicans want to see Otero Mesa protected, now and for the future. We do not want to see this beautiful landscape destroyed by the oil and gas industries. Thank you.
Upon completion of this action, please send an “I did it” to unifiedaction@pva-nm.org
The Issue
The Bureau of Land Management has put together a plan to open up 95 percent of Otero Mesa for oil and gas development.
Otero Mesa in one of the largest and wildest desert grasslands in North America. It is one of the most endangered ecosystems in the United States.
Otero Mesa provides vital habitat for many plant and animal species, including pronghorn, mule deer, mountain lions, prairie dogs, the endangered Aplomado Falcon, and more than 200 other bird species.
Otero Mesa sits atop one of the New Mexico’s largest untapped sources of fresh water—the Salt Basin aquifer. According to a U.S. Geological Survey report, the basin may contain as much as 4 trillion gallons of potable water. This aquifer would be at serious risk of contamination if oil and gas development were allowed to move forward.
For More Information
The Southwest Environmental Center
