John Birch – alive and well in Otero County, New Mexico
A letter to the editor of the Alamogordo News
It is difficult for me to get my mind around the present debate on our White Sands National Monument’s being submitted as a World Heritage Site. Being listed as a World Heritage Site appears to me as a win-win situation.
With a World Heritage Site listing, I envision world travelers becoming more aware of our White Sands being a unique piece of geology, traveling to Alamogordo to visit the monument, leaving a good deal of their money here, then moving on. All at no cost to the taxpayer. Yet I hear horror stories of our government losing its sovereignty, the military no longer being allowed to fly over the area, and all sorts of dire events, if we allow WSNM to be listed. A drop in attendance at Carlsbad Caverns (a World Heritage Site) was cited as a reason against listing, ignoring fuel cost as a possible cause for a decline in travel. The loss of a gold mine outside of Yellowstone National Park was another example of what could happen here. (more…)
