New Mexico senator, congressman want more river protections

A new bill from Rep. Gabe Vasquez and Sen. Martin Heinrich would create more protection for the Gila River, the only free flowing river in New Mexico.

As some Republicans in Congress float the idea of selling public lands to balance the budget and President Donald Trump considers narrowing the boundaries of national monuments, New Mexico’s all Democratic congressional delegation is doubling down on legislation to prohibit mineral extraction and protect water quality for some of New Mexico’s most iconic public lands.

“Natural resource extraction across southern New Mexico is temporary, and one of the solutions that we have for people that want to live healthy lives, that want to have a good quality of life, is outdoor recreation, and we can’t do that without protecting public lands and protecting access for everybody,” Vasquez said as he celebrated reintroducing the M.H. Dutch Salmon Greater Gila Wild and Scenic River Act alongside Silver City officials and business leaders Friday.

The bill would designate 450 miles of the Gila and San Francisco rivers as wild and scenic and is cosponsored by the other three members of the state’s congressional delegation. The designation would require a comprehensive river management plan be created and would keep the Gila River free flowing in New Mexico. The river is dammed south of Globe, Arizona. The designation would also require water quality monitoring. The Gila River begins in Sierra County and flows through the Gila National Forest and Gila Wilderness.

“Simply put, our town cannot survive without gross receipts tax,” said Silver City Councilor Guadalupe Cano. “We don’t get gross receipts tax unless we get visitors here. Visitors come here for the Gila.”

Both branches of Congress have Republican majorities, but Vasquez believes there is a bipartisan path to get more conservation bills through Congress.

“Republicans in Congress represent a lot of rural communities in places like Wyoming and Idaho and Montana, California, Arizona, and their rural communities depend on outdoor recreation and the protection of public lands the same way that we do,” Vasquez said.

Earlier in April, members of the delegation reintroduced two other bills to protect public land and water. Heinrich, Sen. Ben Ray Luján and Reps. Teresa Leger Fernández and Melanie Stansbury reintroduced the Pecos Watershed Protection Act to prevent new mining operations on federal land in the Upper Pecos Watershed.

Heinrich and Stansbury reintroduced the Buffalo Tract Protection Act to permanently prevent mining on four parcels of Bureau of Land Management lands in southern Sandoval County near Placitas. In 2024, former Interior Secretary Deb Haaland signed a public land order to protect the Buffalo Tract from gravel operations, mining claims, and oil and gas development for the next 50 years.

The bills come as the Trump administration is trying to increase domestic energy production, including mining on federal lands.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order in March meant to increase domestic mining. The order tells the interior secretary to prioritize mineral production and mining-related purposes as primary land uses in areas with federal lands “known to hold mineral deposits and reserves.”

“The United States possesses vast mineral resources that can create jobs, fuel prosperity, and significantly reduce our reliance on foreign nations,” the executive order reads.

As part of implementing the order, the Bureau of Land Management will no longer prepare environmental impact statements for 3,244 oil and gas lease decisions about 3.5 million acres of public land in seven states, including leases in New Mexico.

The Trump administration may also be planning to shrink the boundaries of national monuments. In February, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum asked agency officials to create plans for considering redrawing national monument boundaries.

New Mexico’s delegation sent a letter Monday asking the Trump administration to leave three New Mexico national monuments intact. Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks, Rio Grande Del Norte and Kasha Katuwe Tent Rocks national monuments are under review, according to the letter.

“Withdrawing protections from these sites would threaten the economic benefits associated with New Mexico’s outdoor recreation economy and it undermines our community and tribal voices,” the letter reads.