The Upper Gila, New Mexico’s last major, free-flowing river, has been threatened with proposals to dam and divert it at least four times since 1960. Conservationists and lovers of wild environments are breathing easier since April 5, 2021 when New Mexico Governor Michele Lujan Grisham singed HB200 into law. After $17 million have been wasted on increasingly unpopular and far-fetched diversion schemes, this measure redirects future use of federal money allotted to New Mexico from the Central Arizona Project to the water security and infrastructure needs of Southwestern New Mexico communities.

We thank Representatives Nathan Small and Matthew McQueen, and Senators Siah Correa Hemphill and (President Pro Tempore) Mimi Stewart for carrying this bill to passage, and all of our legislators who voted in favor. Donna Stevens,  Native Plant Society of New Mexico member (Gila chapter) and Executive Director of the Upper Gila Watershed Alliance, said: “The Upper Gila Watershed Alliance’s members, many of whom live in the Gila Valley, are so pleased to hear the good news about HB200. We’ve been waiting a long time for the $80 million in the NM Unit Fund to be spent on projects that benefit everyone, not just a few people.”

April 2, 2021

The resolution was introduced by U.S. Senators Rob Portman (R-OH) and Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) to recognize the importance of native plants to environmental conservation and restoration, as well as in supporting a diversity of wildlife. (Sen. Hirono is a native plant champion. She is also a primary sponsor of the “Botany Bill” which seeks to improve management of botanical resources on federal public lands.)

This resolution is the latest example of intensifying bipartisan support for native plant conservation in Congress and elsewhere. Read about  other historic native plant conservation legislation and initiatives in NPCC News.