Groups urge protection for N.M. roadless forest streams

The petition seeks protection for more than 100 miles of waterways that provide water for municipalities, agriculture and recreation.

SANTA FE (AP) - The state is being asked to protect some of New Mexico's cleanest waters in areas of national forests that have no roads.

A coalition of wildlife and conservation groups petitioned the state Water Quality Control Commission last week to designate streams inside roadless areas above Pecos and Las Vegas as Outstanding National Resource Waters. That would give them a measure of protection against pollution.

The petition seeks the designation for more than 100 miles of waterways including the Pecos and Gallinas rivers and numerous tributaries that provide water for municipalities, agriculture and recreation.

The designation, which would be made under the federal Clean Water Act, would permanently protect roadless areas in the Santa Fe National Forest where the waters are found.

"We hope to have an answer by the summer of next year, at the latest," Bryan Bird of Forest Guardians, one of the groups in the coalition, said Monday.

Forest Guardians, the New Mexico Wildlife Federation, the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance and the Sierra Club said the designation they seek would permanently protect critical drinking water for Las Vegas, provide some protection to roadless areas around the waters and protect areas for wildlife.

The coalition argued that the ecological, recreational and economic value of the waters and the roadless forests deserve long-term protection.

The coalition cited the areas' economic benefits. Roadless forests in San Miguel County alone mean about 17 jobs and $424,000 in personal income each year, while the Pecos Wilderness is visited 48,000 times a year, bringing $2.6 million to the state, the coalition said.

In addition, the state fish, the Rio Grande cutthroat trout, lives in a number of the waters listed.

State Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Secretary Joanne Prukop said such a designation would ensure that the headwaters of the Pecos are protected.

The Water Quality Control Commission voted last December in favor of an Outstanding National Resource Waters designation for streams in the Carson National Forest's Valle Vidal.

The state has petitioned the Bush administration to protect all of New Mexico's roadless national forest areas and the Valle Vidal.