The Sierra Club's Eliza Kretzmann

On the Sierra Club’s “Lay of the Land” blog, Eliza Kretzmann of the Club’s Resilient Habitats program writes that with the nation teetering at the edge of a fiscal cliff, protecting the Rio Grande del Norte and reaping the economic benefits that a national monument designation would bring is a win-win proposition.

From Lay of the Land:

In addition to protecting one of the state’s most treasured landscapes, the prospect of a national monument designation also provides other opportunities during what have been tough times for this region. As the ‘fiscal cliff’ approaches, a Rio Grande del Norte National Monument represents a ray of economic hope in an otherwise bleak storyline; a recent study by the Denver-based BBC Research and Consulting found that national monument designation of this special place would bring in an estimated $15.7 million annually, and provide over 270 jobs. For a county with a 28% poverty rate, this is big economic news.

Read the full post from Eliza Kretzmann here.

If you’re interested in supporting the Sierra Club’s petition to designate the Rio Grande del Norte, you can sign up here.