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Wednesday, May 21, 2014

The Big Day

Organ Mountains in the distance
In about an hour President Obama will sign the proclamation designating nearly 500,000 acres of Chihuahuan Desert mountain-and-range territory the new Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument.  It is the largest national monument signed into law by the president.  I'm surprised at how excited I am about the whole thing.  I even sent an email to the president yesterday thanking him and his administration for having the foresight to protect this land.  I plan to watch the signing ceremony at 2:00 p.m. Mountain Time.

Part of the new Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument



9,000-foot peaks in the Organ Mountains

Loving the arroyo

Ocotillo flowers

Sotol

Flowers of the Sotol

Feasting on pollen (tiny corn-on-the-cob?)

7 comments:

Dr. K said...

Great close-up of the bee landing on the pollen.

JACQUELINE said...

Fantastic news about the mountain! I find it hard not to be an Obama fan.

packrat said...

Yes, Jacqui, President Obama has done some very good things for this country and its people despite constant obstruction by a group of Republicans who call themselves the GOP (the Grand Old Party); nothing grand about the obstructionists. The president has let us down on significant issues, but that's a subject for another day.

:)

Scott said...

Whoo-hoo! What great news! I'll have to check my local paper to see if Obama's signing made it to the national news section. This is, indeed, a wonderful development--and I'd probably have completely overlooked it if I didn't stayed tuned in to "Desert Packrat"!

packrat said...

Appreciate it, Scott. I really was dubious that we'd ever see this happen, but I'm absolutely ecstatic about it.

:)

Scott said...

Update: The national monument designation WAS, in fact, the top news story on the National news page of the Philadelphia Inquirer (as I'd hoped it would be).

packrat said...

Glad to hear it, Scott. I hope that news of the national monument gets out around the world as supporters predict it will.

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