LAS VEGAS, N.M. – Public lands sportsmen and women are celebrating as a deal is inked that will open the Sabinoso Wilderness in northeastern New Mexico to the public for the first time.

The Interior Department announced on Thursday its decision to accept donated lands adjacent to the Sabinoso that include a road easement enabling hunters, anglers and others to access the wilderness. The annexation of the 3,595-acre Rimrock Rose Ranch was brokered by the Wilderness Land Trust and long advocated for by sportsmen, who had urged Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to uphold his pledge to pursue public access opportunities and open the New Mexico wilderness to citizens.