Quick Fact
Ever since 1987,
those associated with the trackways have
been trying to get the area closed to everyone except themselves.
Several bills were slipped through Congress and others have died in committee
Enacted 11/15/1990
This act accomplished several things:
1. Withdrew an area consisting of approximately 736 acres for study, as the `Prehistoric Trackways Study Area. No map has been found yet indicating where this 736 acres was.
A. However, the withdrawal was to terminate 2 years after the date the study was transmitted to Congress
2. Required the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a study to:
A. Consider appropriate means to protect the discoveries.
B. Evaluate the feasibility of developing a facility to evaluate, curate, display, and interpret the fossils.
C. Recommend the preferred administrative designation for the area, including but not limited to potential designation as a unit of the National Park System.
3. No money was authorized to conduct the study.
On January 25, 1994, the 103 Congress amended PL101-578 and authorized the Secretary of the Interior to contract with the Smithsonian Institution for the completion of the prehistoric trackways study.
Smithsonian
Report Released
December 15, 1994
DID NOT recommend National Park (or monument) designation.
One sentence out of 245 pages talked about the significance of only the
discovery site.
Introduced on June 29, 2006 during the 109th Congress.
Hearings conducted by the Energy and Natural Resources Committee
| S3599 Testimony - November 27, 2006 | |||
|
Written Testimony |
Oral Testimony |
Speaker | Major Points |
| Listen | Senator Craig R-ID | General Introduction and rules of the day. | |
| Listen | Senator Bingaman D-NM | Mentions S3599 and witnesses. | |
| Listen | Chad Calvert - Part 1 | General opening statements | |
| Read | Listen | Chad Calvert - Part 2 | Calvert's written testimony recommended against national monument designation, and recommended NCA instead. |
| Listen | Senator Bingaman/Chad Calvert | Senator Bingaman asks Chad Calvert if the DOI would guarantee that the Chile Challenge would continue? Calvert says no guarantee. | |
| Read | Listen | Dr. Adrian Hunt | Dr. Hunt written and oral testimonies. |
| Read | Listen | Fred Huff | Huff written testimony focused on the fact that there are no exposed tracks or trackways anywhere within the proposed monument boundaries today. |
 Transcript |
Senator Bingaman questions Dr. Hunt | Senator
Bingaman asks Dr. Hunt several questions in an effort to
discredit what Huff had said about no exposed tracks. The
crowning moment comes when Bingaman asks Dr. Hunt specifically
if there are exposed trackways in the area today. Hunt says Yes
and then immediately reverses himself and spends several moments
explaining how the tracks have to be excavated, but are currently not
excavated. This answer should have been enough to stop this bill
in its tracks. It was worth the money of the trip to see him
tripped up like this. Watch and laugh! |
|
|
Transcript and Video of 9/27/2006 Hearings |
|||
| Transcript of S3599 Discussions | This transcript contains only discussions concerning S3599 and been formatted for readability. Hyperlinks to additional information have also been added. | ||
| Complete transcript | This is the complete transcript of the 9-27-2006 Senate hearing concerning various lands bills. No edits or changes have been made. | ||
| Transcript on Senate website | Here is the hyperlink directly to where this transcript is located on the Senate website. | ||
| Video of Hearing | Here is the complete video of the days proceedings. | ||
The players of the day:
Senator Craig of Idaho chaired the proceedings
Senator Bingaman D-NM introduced S3599.
Chad Calvert testified for the Administration. He is Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Land and Minerals Management, U.S. Department of the Interior.
Dr. Adrian P. Hunt, Executive Director of the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, in Albuquerque, NM. Testified in favor of the monument.
Fred Huff, Land Use Coordinator for the Las Cruces Four Wheel Drive Club was there to oppose the bill.
After reading all the testimonies and listening to the videos, you will have to decide if the BLM could guarantee that the designated trails would be kept open and rather or not anything is exposed within the proposed monument boundaries today.
S3599 died in committee - as well it should have.
One would have thought that with the evidence of Dr. Hunt verifying that there were no exposed tracks, 75% of the people taking a poll voting against the monument, the 650 plus member organization of the Las Cruces Home Builders Association voicing opposition against the monument, and numerous regular citizens voicing opposition to the bill, that Senator Bingaman would get the idea that this is a monumentally bad idea.
But NO, On January 11, 2007 at the start of the 110th Congress, he again introduced this bill. This time it is Senate bill 275 (S 275).
Senator Bingaman then fast tracked S275 out of committee without hearings or other input. It is now S 275 RS and has a report to go with it. Two small changes were made:
1. The buffer zone language was removed.
2. The quarry in the southern part of the proposed monument was drawn out of the boundary.
Other than that all of the inconsistencies and threats to existing uses remain. The quarry is in danger and all recreational use is under the gun.
As of March, 2007 it is up for vote by the full Senate and will surely pass if informed citizens do not raise their voices in opposition.