ALAMOGORDO, N.M. – The New Mexico group Cowboys for Trump is facing criticism after members brought iconic gypsum sands from White Sands National Monument to Washington for a Christmas Tree lighting ceremony – a possible violation of federal law.
Otero County Commission Chairman and Cowboys for Trump co-founder Couy Griffin said the group brought four “big plastic bins” of the sand for the ceremony Wednesday, the Alamogordo Daily News reports.
“We’re bringing Washington, D.C., some of the most beautiful treasure out of New Mexico,” Griffin said in a video posted to the Cowboys for Trump Facebook page Nov. 30.
But removing natural resources from a U.S. national parks unit, including national monuments, is illegal without permission.
“Federal laws and policies prohibit the taking of sand and any resource from within the national monument,” White Sands National Monument tweeted from its official account after Griffin posted his video. “The illegal taking of resources from within the national monument is a Class B misdemeanor punishable with a $5,000 fine or six months in jail.”
The monument cannot sell natural material found in White Sands National Monument or items made from the sand in the gift shop, White Sands National Monument Superintendent Marie Sauter told the newspaper.
Griffin said in a phone interview he had permission to take the sand, though he did not say who or what agency issued permission in this case.
However, the state’s top Democrat didn’t appear to think there was anything wrong about the sand making the 1,850-mile-long journey for a ceremony involving a tree from the Carson National Forest in northern New Mexico.
During a live interview with Albuquerque-based KOB-TV in Washington, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham noted that the tree had gypsum sands from White Sands National Monument, but the governor’s office said Friday that she would not have approved of taking the sand if the proper protocols were not followed.
New Mexico’s Democratic state auditor is investigating an Otero County travel reimbursement using taxpayer money to Griffin in connection with Cowboys for Trump activities.
Griffin traveled to Washington in part to attend a Sept. 12 conference with representatives from western states. A travel voucher listed a meeting with President Donald Trump as the reason for the expense.
