We here at Albuquerque City Lifestyle magazine regularly cover the outdoor recreation industry in New Mexico. It is a vital part of the state’s culture and one of the reasons we all love to live here. Recently, there were grants awarded to organizations that work to provide access to the outdoor recreation areas of the state under the Trails+ initiative. The state Outdoor Recreation Division characterizes this initiative as “To grow outdoor access for both residents and visitors, as well as preserve these wild places within our state, the legislature, through the ORD, has created the Outdoor Recreation Trails+ Grant. This grant invests in conservation-minded shovel-ready projects that are open to the public, increase access to outdoor opportunities, and demonstrate a clear economic benefit to the community through improved quality of life, better public health outcomes, and/or increased eco-tourism.”
We’ll take a look at some of the organizations and projects that were awarded grants throughout New Mexico to create and improve trail systems.
Nature Niños New Mexico says that their goal is “We are here to be your outdoor learning team. We take the guesswork out of getting outside so families can access and explore the outdoors alongside a family-focused, professional team.” We talked to Sarah Candelaria, the executive director of the group. She told us, “We're a local nonprofit entity that focuses on engaging with youth and families that are facing barriers to access to the outdoors, and so we work in sometimes larger communities and sometimes school communities. We help communities identify what barriers they are facing, and we help to mitigate those barriers to make sure that youth are having the opportunities to spend meaningful time outside focusing on their social-emotional health and well-being.”
Sarah tells us, “Some kids who are living in city environments are what we call ‘nature nervous.’ We don’t want to immediately expose them to ‘big nature’, so we start with projects that are within walking distance in or near the city. We just recently did a cleanup and tree distribution hike where we spent some time cleaning up the Bosque. Anyone who was part of our project was able to take a tree home for that day to be able to plant in their yard. Most of these kids were from the South Valley community. We do ‘big nature’ as well, with rafting and fishing in more remote parts of the state. We’re seeing kids who are exploring a career path in outdoor recreation. We want kids outside, but in its core foundation, we want our youth to be happy and healthy, and if they can include nature, all the better.”
The Field Institute of Taos describes their program as “To provide hands-on, nature-based outdoor experiences promoting connection, healthy, active lifestyles, and focusing on adventure, natural sciences, community, and culture. We offer experiential education, teach outdoor skills, and encourage inclusive and accessible, thoughtful exploration.”
Elizabeth S. LeBlanc, Executive Director, says, “The Field Institute of Taos is an outdoor education nonprofit. Our primary mission is to get local kids into the outdoors, so we run summer camps and school programs. We have a bike team. Pretty much anything that involves getting kids outdoors, having fun, and involving health and wellness is in our wheelhouse.”
“We run a couple of different kinds of camps. Our signature camp is what we call a mountain camp. We do team building activities, get them prepared, and then head out to explore different areas of Taos, so the activities involved in those include things like hiking and learning navigation. We often do rides up the ski valley chairlift to explore all the different areas of Taos. We also do a neighborhood camp at the Quail Ridge Resort Center, and that's more outdoor activities like swimming, tennis, and crafts. We have a competitive high school and middle school bike team, so they are out in New Mexico and Colorado competing on the weekends. We are also a certified snow school. We strive to grow our community of engaged, resilient, and inquisitive children and families
with opportunities for ALL children to experience the beauty, connection, and wonder of nature while developing a healthy, active lifestyle.”
The Heart of the Gila director, Patrice Mutchnick, tells us their goal is to “Conserve our watersheds and educate children, adults, and decision-makers about the ecological, social, economic, and cultural values of rivers in New Mexico and the bioregions of the greater Southwest.”
She says, “We do stewardship work on the forest, such as trail maintenance, non-native species removal, and restoration of degraded recreation sites. We do a lot of that stewardship as a mechanism for bringing people into the outdoors, getting needed work done, and then connecting them to these places in the hopes of instilling love of this place and then the motivation to protect them.”
“We have programs that are specifically for children. We do a watershed education program that brings families into the local watersheds and do activities to learn about the ecological principles and basically to have fun and enjoy the area and learn about why it's special and why it needs to be protected and to develop a sense of conservation and stewardship.”
Patrice says, “Our role is to try to create better corridors and ways that people can move a little bit further into the backcountry of the Gila, the nation's first designated wilderness area, and to experience it more deeply.”
Loren Bell, director of the Enchanted Circle Trails Association, says the aim of his organization is “To develop, maintain, and promote trails in the Enchanted Circle region of Northern New Mexico. We are dedicated to the creation of a regional trail system as envisioned by the community-developed Enchanted Circle Trails Plan to positively affect community health and increase economic development through recreation — all to help improve the quality of life in the region for local residents.”
Loren says that there is a lot of community involvement. “We're excited that we currently work with 22 businesses and organizations within the region that regularly put in a couple thousand volunteer hours a year to help maintain our trails. For example, we engage with the Taos Trail Runners, a volunteer group of folks that get together and do trail running, and they put a couple of days a year into going out and helping us cut out trees and work on drainage.”
Like many of the trail groups, they see trail development as a community health benefit. Loren tells us, “There have been studies that have shown that people who live within a reasonable distance of a trail tend to have lower rates of health problems, lower rates of diabetes, lower rates of obesity, so providing outdoor access and just making it convenient is positively correlated with health.”
Darien Fernandez, Executive Director of the Taos Land Trust, told us that his organization has a somewhat different approach to conservation. “We work with property owners to put lands into permanent conservation easements where they give up their development rights, and they typically get a tax break in return, and we get to preserve open space. We've also done some advocacy work over the years around conservation policy, clean water, and clean lands. We’ve helped other organizations acquire and give to the BLM and permanently protect some of the most iconic landscapes in northern New Mexico. It preserves open space, agricultural lands, and wildlife habitats, and it prevents subdivision of the land. It also prevents...and this is important for New Mexico... it prevents water rights on a property from ever being sold off.”
The Taos Land Trust appears before legislatures, planning sessions, and water policy meetings. Darian says, “The past 10 years, we've also put together a community conservation plan, which mapped out different areas where folks felt that it was important to protect open space, and that's been used as a guiding document by the town of Taos. We've also worked on mapping out the potential regional trail systems that can connect one park space to another neighborhood park space.”
“We get a New Mexico Youth Conservation Corps grant that pays for us to have a summer crew of 14- to 25-year-olds who some of them are at their first job experience. Others are freshly out of school, and they want to work in conservation or outdoor recreation, and they help us maintain our parks. They also get skills such as first aid, CPR, how to build a resume, and how to show up and conduct oneself in a job interview.”
The Taos Land Trust does the complicated work of advocacy and influencing policy that makes long-range conservation efforts possible.
The Cibola Trail Alliance defines its organization as “A passionate group of outdoor enthusiasts in Cibola County, New Mexico, dedicated to promoting and maintaining multi-use trails for a variety of outdoor activities, including cycling, hiking, running, ATV riding, horseback riding, and more. The organization brings together individuals who share a love for outdoor recreation and focuses on building a stronger recreational community.”
President Chad Gaines told us, “We were set up by a group of volunteers out of Grants, NM, and we set it up to advocate for multi-use trails in our community to help build trails to increase tourism in Cibola County. We’re actively involved in the preservation and development of trails in the Mt. Taylor Ranger District of Cibola County. Our group’s mission is to foster a community of trail enthusiasts, including hikers, cyclists, ATV riders, runners, and horseback riders. It’s a great way to promote the enjoyment and sustainability of the outdoors.”
“We believe that creating and maintaining successful trail systems relies on collaboration and partnership. By bringing together land managers, volunteer groups, businesses, landowners, environmental organizations, and local leaders, we can establish trails that serve everyone.”
The benefits of state economic development, healthy activity, youth participation, and enjoyment of New Mexico’s abundant natural features make these grant resources money well spent. All of these organizations have a web presence. Contact them if you want to volunteer, contribute, or enjoy the trails.
We offer experiential education, teach outdoor skills, and encourage inclusive and accessible, thoughtful exploration.
It’s a great way to promote the enjoyment and sustainability of the outdoors.
We believe that creating and maintaining successful trail systems relies on collaboration and partnership.