The Sabinoso Wilderness is a area in
San Miguel County, New Mexico
San Miguel County is a county in the U.S. state of New Mexico. As of the 2010 census, the population was 29,393. Its county seat is Las Vegas.
San Miguel County comprises the Las Vegas Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in ...
. The US
Bureau of Land Management
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands. Headquartered in Washington DC, and with oversight over , it governs one eighth of the country's la ...
owns and administers the wilderness area. The semi-arid wilderness includes few natural resources but has a diverse geology, as well as a range of plant and animal species.
There were multiple failed legislative attempts to establish the Sabinoso Wilderness, both as an individual bill as well as part of more comprehensive legislation, prior to the eventual success in 2009 as part of an
omnibus bill
An omnibus bill is a proposed law that covers a number of diverse or unrelated topics. ''Omnibus'' is derived from Latin and means "to, for, by, with or from everything". An omnibus bill is a single document that is accepted in a single vote by a ...
. , the wilderness was inaccessible to the public without trespassing, as it and adjoining state-owned property were entirely surrounded by privately owned land. In conjunction with the
Wyss Foundation
The Wyss Foundation is a charitable organization based in Washington, D.C., that was founded by philanthropist Hansjörg Wyss. Established in 1998, the foundation has provided funding to conservation, environmental journalism, education, museums a ...
, a road to allow public access through the donation and purchase of additional adjacent lands was implemented and the wilderness opened to the public on November 10, 2017. In 2021, the size of the wilderness was increased by with a donation from the
Trust for Public Land
The Trust for Public Land is a U.S. nonprofit organization with a mission to "create parks and protect land for people, ensuring healthy, livable communities for generations to come". Since its founding in 1972, the Trust for Public Land has compl ...
which acquired the former Hobo Ranch. A second public access road is planned.
Legislative history
On June 7, 2007,
Tom Udall
Thomas Stewart Udall ( ; born May 18, 1948) is an American diplomat, lawyer and politician serving as the United States Ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa since 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a United States senator from N ...
introduced H.R. 2632, the Sabinoso Wilderness Act of 2008, which would have set aside a total of 15,995 acres of land for the site. The bill passed the
US House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...
on June 9, 2008 by a
voice vote
In parliamentary procedure, a voice vote (from the Latin ''viva voce'', meaning "live voice") or acclamation is a voting method in deliberative assemblies (such as legislatures) in which a group vote is taken on a topic or motion by responding vo ...
, but never passed the
Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
.
On March 13, 2008,
Raúl Grijalva
Raúl Manuel Grijalva (; born February 19, 1948) is an American politician and activist who has served as the United States representative for since 2003. He is a member of the Democratic Party. The district, numbered as the 7th from 2003 to 20 ...
introduced H.R. 5610, the Protecting America’s Wild Places Act of 2008. Title III of the act, Sabinoso Wilderness, would have set aside 19,880 acres of land for the site. It was passed by neither the House nor the Senate.
On February 9, 2009,
Ben Luján introduced H.R. 921, the Sabinoso Wilderness Act of 2009, which would have set aside 15,995 acres for the site, and was not passed by either chamber.
Sabinoso was finally established as part of the
Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009
The Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 (, ) is a land management law passed in the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 30, 2009. The bill designates millions of acres in the US as protected a ...
, signed into law by
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
on March 30, 2009.
Subtitle G Section 1602 reads:
In furtherance of the purposes of the Wilderness Act (16 U.S.C. 1131 et seq.), the approximately 16,030 acres of land under the jurisdiction of the Taos Field Office Bureau of Land Management, New Mexico, as generally depicted on the map, is designated as wilderness and as a component of the National Wilderness Preservation System, to be known as the `Sabinoso Wilderness'.
Description
![Sabinosa Wilderness Image 6](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7d/Sabinosa_Wilderness_Image_6.png)
The Sabinoso Wilderness area consists of canyons and steep-sided mesas with elevations ranging from to . The mesa tops are grassland while the canyon walls support a
pinyon pine
The pinyon or piñon pine group grows in southwestern North America, especially in New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah. The trees yield edible nuts, which are a staple food of Native Americans, and widely eaten as a snack and as an ingredient in New ...
and
juniper
Junipers are coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Juniperus'' () of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on the taxonomy, between 50 and 67 species of junipers are widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere, from the Arcti ...
woodland with scattered groves of
ponderosa pine
''Pinus ponderosa'', commonly known as the ponderosa pine, bull pine, blackjack pine, western yellow-pine, or filipinus pine is a very large pine tree species of variable habitat native to mountainous regions of western North America. It is the ...
. The area is semi-arid receiving to precipitation annually.
The canyon bottoms have periodically flowing streams, as well as deep incisions cut by the Cañon Olguin, Cañon Largo, and Lagartija Creek. Riparian vegetation such as
cottonwood and
willow
Willows, also called sallows and osiers, from the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 400 speciesMabberley, D.J. 1997. The Plant Book, Cambridge University Press #2: Cambridge. of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist s ...
trees is found along the ephemeral streams. Wildlife includes, elk,
mule deer
The mule deer (''Odocoileus hemionus'') is a deer indigenous to western North America; it is named for its ears, which are large like those of the mule. Two subspecies of mule deer are grouped into the black-tailed deer.
Unlike the related whit ...
,
black bear
Black bear or Blackbear may refer to:
Animals
* American black bear (''Ursus americanus''), a North American bear species
* Asian black bear (''Ursus thibetanus''), an Asian bear species
Music
* Black Bear (band), a Canadian First Nations group ...
, and
wild turkey
The wild turkey (''Meleagris gallopavo'') is an Upland game bird, upland ground bird native to North America, one of two extant species of Turkey (bird), turkey and the heaviest member of the order Galliformes. It is the ancestor to the domestic ...
.
The northeastern corner of the wilderness area is near the
Canadian River
The Canadian River is the longest tributary of the Arkansas River in the United States. It is about long, starting in Colorado and traveling through New Mexico, the Texas Panhandle, and Oklahoma. The drainage area is about .[Las Vegas, New Mexico
Las Vegas is a city in and the county seat of San Miguel County, New Mexico, United States. Once two separate municipalities (one a city and the other a town), both were named Las Vegas—West Las Vegas ("Old Town") and East Las Vegas ("New Town" ...]
, about 50 miles distant by road.
Geology
The Sabinoso Wilderness contains a sequence of
sedimentary rock
Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth's surface, followed by cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particles ...
s, which are close to flat lying or dipping very gently to the southeast. These rocks are almost entirely
sandstone
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks.
Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...
s,
siltstone
Siltstone, also known as aleurolite, is a clastic sedimentary rock that is composed mostly of silt. It is a form of mudrock with a low clay mineral content, which can be distinguished from shale by its lack of fissility.Blatt ''et al.'' 1980, p ...
s, and
shale
Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especial ...
s, and represent geological time from the
Late Triassic
The Late Triassic is the third and final epoch (geology), epoch of the Triassic geologic time scale, Period in the geologic time scale, spanning the time between annum, Ma and Ma (million years ago). It is preceded by the Middle Triassic Epoch ...
to the
Early Cretaceous
The Early Cretaceous ( geochronological name) or the Lower Cretaceous (chronostratigraphic name), is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous. It is usually considered to stretch from 145 Ma to 100.5 Ma.
Geology
Pro ...
epochs
In chronology and periodization, an epoch or reference epoch is an instant in time chosen as the origin of a particular calendar era. The "epoch" serves as a reference point from which time is measured.
The moment of epoch is usually decided by ...
. These rocks
record a variety of paleoenvironments, including
alluvial
Alluvium (from Latin ''alluvius'', from ''alluere'' 'to wash against') is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. Alluv ...
streams,
floodplain
A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...
s,
lake
A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...
s and
pond
A pond is an area filled with water, either natural or artificial, that is smaller than a lake. Defining them to be less than in area, less than deep, and with less than 30% emergent vegetation helps in distinguishing their ecology from th ...
s, wind-blown
eolian dunes, and in the youngest of the rocks, some sandy shallow marine settings.
The
geological formations
A geological formation, or simply formation, is a body of rock having a consistent set of physical characteristics ( lithology) that distinguishes it from adjacent bodies of rock, and which occupies a particular position in the layers of rock exp ...
represented at the surface within the Wilderness include the
Santa Rosa
Santa Rosa is the Italian, Portuguese and Spanish name for Saint Rose.
Santa Rosa may also refer to:
Places Argentina
*Santa Rosa, Mendoza, a city
* Santa Rosa, Tinogasta, Catamarca
* Santa Rosa, Valle Viejo, Catamarca
*Santa Rosa, La Pampa
* Sa ...
,
Chinle,
Entrada,
Morrison Morrison may refer to:
People
* Morrison (surname), people with the Scottish surname Morrison
* Morrison Heady (1829–1915), American poet
* Morrison Mann MacBride (1877–1938), Canadian merchant
Places in the United States
* Morrison, Colorad ...
, and
Mesa Rica Formations. Buried beneath the area are
Paleozoic
The Paleozoic (or Palaeozoic) Era is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic Eon.
The name ''Paleozoic'' ( ;) was coined by the British geologist Adam Sedgwick in 1838
by combining the Greek words ''palaiós'' (, "old") and ' ...
sedimentary rocks and
Precambrian
The Precambrian (or Pre-Cambrian, sometimes abbreviated pꞒ, or Cryptozoic) is the earliest part of Earth's history, set before the current Phanerozoic Eon. The Precambrian is so named because it preceded the Cambrian, the first period of the ...
crystalline rocks making up the geological
basement
A basement or cellar is one or more floors of a building that are completely or partly below the ground floor. It generally is used as a utility space for a building, where such items as the furnace, water heater, breaker panel or fuse box, ...
.
Several of the
lithologies
The lithology of a rock unit is a description of its physical characteristics visible at outcrop, in hand or core samples, or with low magnification microscopy. Physical characteristics include colour, texture, grain size, and composition. Lit ...
present in the Wilderness have eroded to form prominent cliffs, including the thick sandstone beds of the Chinle Formation, and the Entrada Sandstone. The former are reddish-brown to maroon; the latter a salmon-orange color.
Mineral resources
In 1987 the
United States Geological Survey
The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...
published a report on the mineral resources of Sabinoso. They concluded that "no identified mineral resources were found in the study area." While they identified some occurrences of
uranium
Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weak ...
associated with the
Chinle Formation
The Chinle Formation is an Upper Triassic continental geological formation of fluvial, lacustrine, and palustrine to eolian deposits spread across the U.S. states of Nevada, Utah, northern Arizona, western New Mexico, and western Colorado. In Ne ...
, the deposits were too small, scattered and low-grade to constitute a viable resources for uranium.
Cultural resources
As of 2013 the area had not been systematically surveyed for cultural resources. However, the archaeological record of the surrounding territory suggests a high density of prehistoric Paleo-Indian sites, as well as sites related to the period of homesteading and ranching, around the mid-19th century. Many of the artifacts which have been found in the area are centered along the Largo Canyon Road which is thought to be a pre-historic trail, as well as a road used by the
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
to connect
Fort Union and
Fort Bascom
Fort Bascom, established in 1863 in New Mexico Territory, is located on the Canadian River in Quay County, New Mexico, slightly west of the Texas border, 10 miles north of Tucumcari, New Mexico.
The fort was named in honor of Captain George Ni ...
.
Grazing
Cattle grazing on Sabinoso is rare due to the relative scarcity of water. However, 10 grazing allotments had been granted as of 2013, with grazing taking place mostly in the southern portion of the area.
Public access
Sabinoso Wilderness Area is surrounded by privately owned land and initially had no route for public access. About a dozen state-owned parcels of land adjoin Sabinoso, but they are themselves also "landlocked," entirely surrounded by privately owned property.
In 2016 the
Wilderness Land Trust
The Wilderness Land Trust is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in Helena, MT, whose mission is to acquire private lands (inholdings) in current and proposed wilderness areas and transfer them to the federal government so that they will be ...
, financed by the Wyss Foundation, purchased the Rimrock Rose Ranch for $3,150,000 with the goal of enabling public access to the area. The environmental evaluations needed before visitors would be allowed to enter the park, were estimated to require up to a year to complete, and were made available for public comment as of August 2016.
In August 2016, The Bureau of Land Management proposed to accept a donation of of the Rimrock Rose Ranch for addition to the Wilderness Area. The BLM proposed to purchase the remaining of the ranch, as well as of
inholding
An inholding is privately owned land inside the boundary of a national park, national forest, state park, or similar publicly owned, protected area. In-holdings result from private ownership of lands predating the designation of the park or fores ...
s. They also plan to cancel two allotments for livestock grazing to alleviate the impact on the sparse riparian environments.
The transfer of the land was finalized in 2017.
The Wilderness became open to the public on November 10, 2017, accessible from an improved dirt road along San Miguel County Road C51A.
Ryan Zinke
Ryan Keith Zinke (; born November 1, 1961) is an American politician and businessman. Zinke, a member of the Republican Party, served in the Montana Senate from 2009 to 2013 and as the U.S. representative for Montana's at-large congressional d ...
, the
United States Secretary of the Interior
The United States secretary of the interior is the head of the United States Department of the Interior. The secretary and the Department of the Interior are responsible for the management and conservation of most federal land along with natural ...
stated "the Sabinoso Wilderness Area is finally open and accessible to hunters and all members of the public for the first time ever."
On July 17, 2021, Secretary of the Interior Debra Haaland accepted a donation of 9,855 acres, which both increased the size of the designated wilderness area by about 50% and provided for a second public access point.
See also
*
List of U.S. Wilderness Areas
The National Wilderness Preservation System includes 803 wilderness areas protecting of federal land . They are managed by four agencies:
*United States National Park Service (NPS)
*United States Forest Service (USFS)
*United States Fish and Wild ...
*
National Wilderness Preservation System
The National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS) of the United States protects federally managed wilderness areas designated for preservation in their natural condition. Activity on formally designated wilderness areas is coordinated by the Na ...
Notes
References
External links
*
*
{{authority control
Wilderness areas of New Mexico
Protected areas of San Miguel County, New Mexico
Bureau of Land Management areas in New Mexico
Protected areas established in 2009
2009 establishments in New Mexico