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About Southern New Mexico Group
Welcome to the Southern New Mexico Group of the Rio Grande Chapter of the Sierra Club. We have about 800 members located in the counties of Catron, Chaves, Dona Ana, Eddy, Grant, Hidalgo, Lea, Lincoln, Luna, Otero, Sierra, and Socorro.
We share a love of the outdoors, and a desire to leave to our children and grandchildren the same opportunities to enjoy the outside world that we have had. We provide a counter to the seemingly endless parade of schemes that threaten the exceptional Southern New Mexico landscape from ill sited mines, concentrated dairies, water grabs, and toxic emissions. We seek to preserve wild places that are intact along with the wildlife in them. And we offer a variety of outings during the year which never fail to delight and remind ourselves why our local environment, from the low desert arroyos to the forest-clad peaks, are so worthy of our efforts.
Current priority conservation efforts of the Group include:
- Protection of our public lands – in particular, protecting Otero Mesa from irresponsible oil and gas drilling and reining in irresponsible off road vehicle use.
- Conservation of our natural resources and wildlife including the highly endangered Mexican Gray wolf and other important carnivores which are often not a management priority, Caballo and Percha Creek state parks threatened by the proposed Parasol dairy, the very special Monticello Box and Alamosa Creek threatened by a Beryllium mine, and air quality and environmental justice for residents near the Helena Chemical plant.
- Clean energy solutions – emphasis on energy efficiency and accelerating adoption of renewable energy solutions in Las Cruces as part of the Sierra Club Cool Cities campaign.