The Albuquerque Tribune supports the preservation of Otero Mesa:
Earlier this month, a watershed event in Western wilderness protection occurred in Idaho, where a coalition of competing interests announced a surprise proposal to protect the stunning Owyhee Canyonlands, long recognized as the largest unprotected potential wild area in the country outside of Alaska.
The proposal still is generating significant debate two weeks later and may or may not succeed politically. But it represents a collaborative model that could provide a solution in New Mexico to the increasingly contentious fight over the equally precious Otero Mesa.
There are many similarities between the Owyhee Canyonlands and Otero Mesa, with hundreds of thousands of natural and unique acres at stake in each. In fact, many conservation organizations consider the two tracts among the most important large federal land areas left worthy of massive wilderness and biodiversity protection.