Heinrich Named New Mexico's Conservationist of the Year

Martin Heinrich was awarded 2007 Conservationist of the Year for his work preserving open space lands, establishing an important wildlife corridor, protecting important archeological sites, and establishing green building standards, among other efforts. The New Mexico Wilderness Alliance (NMWA) presented Heinrich with the award at their 2007 Annual Wilderness Conference.

In addition to bills listed below, Heinrich was also instrumental in advocating for the passage of the Ojito Wilderness Act in 2005, one of only 2 wilderness areas signed by the President of the United States that year, and the first stand-alone Wilderness area established in New Mexico in over 17 years.

Heinrich is pictured with NMWA Executive Director Steve Capra and Lieutenant Governor Diane Denish. Denish served as keynote speaker for the event.

2007 Heinrich Sponsored Bills Related to Land & Environment

Establish Open Space: R-07-260 – (adopted on September 5th, 2007) - providing City funding ($500,000) for the purchase of four hundred and twenty acres of land adjacent to existing city open space at a fraction of its actual cost and providing easy public access (a new trailhead) from the Turquoise Trail (NM 14) to the forested side canyons and high rim rock outcrops of the Gutierrez Canyon. Since its purchase in 1963, access to the 300-acre Gutierrez Canyon Open Space has been limited to an area through a nearby residential neighborhood.

Protect Hawkwatch Property: R-06-129 – (published on Nov. 21st, 2006) – providing City of Albuquerque funding ($650,000) for purchase of the "Hawkwatch" property, a vulnerable 67-acre area in the Sandia Mountain Wilderness adjacent to the existing Tres Pistolas Open Space, recognized as one of North America's five most important wildlife linkages. The purchase helps ensure the safe movement of wildlife between the Sandia and Manzano Mountains, provides safer travel to motorists in the canyon, protects the scenic view-shed for the gateway to the City and provides extensive recreational opportunities."

Green Building Ordinance: O-07-73 – (approved on September 17th, 2007) – creates the "Albuquerque High Performance Building Ordinance" and puts Albuquerque in the lead nationally for sustainability and addressing global warming. The ordinance requires new commercial and residential buildings to meet higher standards of energy efficiency (without significantly increasing building costs), reducing Albuquerque's greenhouse gas emissions.

Preserve Archaeological Sites: O-07-72 – (approved on September 5th, 2007) – the "Preservation of Archaeological Sites" ordinance establishes a City Archaeologist and a process by which development plans are reviewed for potential impacts to archaeological sites before the development is approved. There are hundreds of archaeological sites spanning the last 10,000+ years of human history in Albuquerque.

Protect Local Farmland: OC-07-11 – (approved on February 5, 2007) – this legislation establishes a contract with the Trust for Public Land to create a tool for prioritizing the protection of conservation sites in Albuquerque. The GIS modeling tool will allow for prioritizing lands for conservation, recreation and farmland goals – and in general, lands that are critical to meeting community-based goals, from enhancing existing public owned open space, to developing new parks, to creating better connectivity with existing parks.

Support Grower's Markets: Councilor Heinrich has been an ally of local grower's markets and recently helped pave the way for the Alcazar Street Grower's Market at Central and Alcazar, alongside the Talin International Marketplace, to operate on Saturday and Tuesday mornings. Locally-grown items do not have to travel as far to get to your table, thereby allowing farmers to pick produce at the peak of flavor, which also preserves produce nutritional content. Support of grower's markets is demonstration of his support for preserving local agricultural lands.

Albuquerque Ranked 1st Place for Open Space: This year, the Trust for Public Land ranked the City of Albuquerque first place nationally for its percentage of land devoted to open space. According to the study, Albuquerque devotes the most land area by percentage to parks and preserves of any large city in the country. During his tenure as an elected official, City Councilor Martin Heinrich has seen through numerous measures adding to that standing, bringing Albuquerque's total amount of open space to one quarter of our City's total land acreage. "We're really proud of our open space heritage – it's such an important component of our quality of life and is why people choose to live here. Not to mention, it sets us apart from other cities throughout the nation and around the world," says Heinrich.