On this week's episode, we’re joined by Patrick Nolan, executive director of Friends of the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks. We’ll also be joined by Sen. Jeff Steinborn (D-Las Cruces), as well as Kyla Navarro, policy and community coordinator for Friends of the OMDP.
The New Mexico Legislative Session recently wrapped up and Friends of the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks celebrated the legislature’s decision to fund a feasibility study, which is a step towards establishing a new state park in Southern New Mexico. The Broad Canyon Ranch property was acquired by the New Mexico State Parks Division in 2008 to be a destination for outdoor education. It also holds potential as a foraging and nesting habitat for various avian species. Due to budget cuts during the previous administration, the property was never opened to the public.
Friends of the OMDP hopes to establish Broad Canyon Ranch as a state park for the safe public access to Slot Canyon, north of Las Cruces, and the Rio Grande corridor. This destination has increased in popularity the past few years but sits on the edge of state-owned land and national monument land. Due to this reason, accessing this destination became contentious for trespassing concerns, treading on state land to access federal lands. With funding provided through the “Junior Bill,” Sen. Steinborn and Rep. Nathan Small (D-Las Cruces) were able to allocate money to fund the study.
We’ll talk about the challenges this could help overcome, how it’s a necessary first step to create a state park, what the current situation looks like and how we got here, and what exactly the “Junior Bill” is.