LETTER TO THE EDITOR — Time to start talking

The editorial “A voice from the wilderness” (T.N.M., Jan. 30/95) shows that neither the mining industry nor the environmentalists are thinking clearly about land use in wilderness area, a development which will likely result in solutions that are unsatisfactory to both sides.

For example, is the mining industry not capable of advancing some ideas of its own for wilderness areas? What about land that has already been thoroughly explored or exploited? Is all such land too degraded to support wildlife?

The mining industry is capable of looking at the government’s plan of bio-diversity regions and identifying some large tracts that might qualify as wilderness or natural environment parks. Such areas could be stand-alone or included in virgin wilderness selected by the government.

Land-use regulation would have the long-term effect of restoring exploited and mineral-depleted areas to wilderness. Restoration through natural processes is cost-free; however, some remedial work might be done to revegetate blighted parts.

If the mining industry were to advance some viable options, it would have a stronger hand in retaining exportation rights in virgin wilderness areas. Environmentalists, accustomed to seeing themselves as a bulwark against man’s steady encroachment on wilderness, would be intrigued by the concept of restoring wilderness through land-use regulation, perhaps accompanied by some restorative work appropriately encouraged through tax incentives. It is time for both sides to come off their fixed positions and talk. Peter Woodward

Albuquerque, N.M.