Interior secretary's New Mexico monuments agenda includes meetings, hikes, and horseback rides
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is scheduled to arrive in New Mexico Thursday morning as part of two days of meetings and sightseeing ahead of his decision on whether to shrink the state’s two national monuments or leave them as they are.
On Thursday, Zinke will tour the Organ Mountains Desert Peaks National Monument by helicopter then meet with elected officials, ranchers, academics, border security experts, and others local stakeholders “who represent all sides of the issue,” according to the Interior Department.
On Friday, Zinke will hike with southern New Mexico veterans and then hold meetings with the Mescalero Apache, Fort Sill Tribe, and Friends of Organ Mountains Desert Peaks . On Saturday, the Interior secretary will hike and ride horseback with Sens. Martin Heinrich and Tom Udall, both of whom are opposed to shrinking either monument.
Interestingly, the Interior Department’s public announcement of Zinke’s trip makes no mention of a visit to the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument near Taos. Those who have followed the monument review process closely have suggested that the Rio Grande monument appears to less likely to get reduced in size than the Organs monument, which Rep. Steve Pearce, a Republican, has urged Zinke to shrink by as much as 88 percent.
Read more: https://www.abqjournal.com/1038500/interior-secretarys-nm-monuments-agenda-includes-meetings-hikes-and-horseback-rides.html