NM land trade to consolidate parcels on track
Rio Grande del Norte monument, Sabinoso Wilderness Area involved
SANTA FE — The U.S. Department of the Interior has approved moving forward with a land exchange between the New Mexico State Land Office and the federal Bureau of Land Management that will consolidate holdings within the Río Grande del Norte National Monument and the Sabinoso Wilderness Area under federal control.
In April, State Land Commissioner Aubrey Dunn and then-BLM New Mexico State Director Amy Lueders had announced they were negotiating the swap.
But the deal was put on hold when President Donald Trump ordered Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to review numerous national monument designations — including those by former President Barack Obama for the Rio Grande del Norte, in Taos County, and the Organ Mountains-Desert Peak National Monument in southern New Mexico.
On Wednesday, the Land Office announced that the Interior Department had approved an “agreement to initiate” (ATI) for the land trades.
“We are pleased that the ATI is back on track,” acting BLM New Mexico state director Aden Seidlitz said in a news release. “We look forward to working with Commissioner Dunn
and the State Land Office on the proposed land exchange, which will benefit both agencies and, most importantly, the public.”
Dunn said, “State trust lands and federal lands are often intermingled, which prevents us from effectively managing our respective resources.”
The Land Office would transfer about 41,000 acres of stateowned parcels and mineral rights within the Rio Grande del Norte to the BLM, eliminating a “checkerboard” mix of state and federal property in the monument, and consolidating BLM oversight and management.
The BLM also is set to obtain 2,000 acres of state trust lands within the Sabinoso, about 30 miles east of Las Vegas, N.M.
In return, the Land Office would take 78,000 now-federal acres scattered over Chaves, Colfax, Guadalupe, Lincoln, McKinley, Mora, Otero, Rio Arriba, San Juan, Sandoval, Santa Fe, Socorro and Torrance counties.
State trust lands were given to New Mexico by the federal government around the time of statehood in 1912, and are managed by the Land Office to generate revenue for schools, hospitals and other public entities, typically with leases for activities such as grazing and oil or gas drilling.
The Río Grande del Norte consists of about 242,455 acres, including the showpiece Rio Grande Gorge near Taos. The BLM also manages the 16,030acre Sabinoso Wilderness Area in San Miguel County.
Dunn’s office said the lands conveyed to the State Land Office will have the same fair market value as the lands traded to the BLM.
“The BLM and the SLO are “identifying all encumbrances on the lands that would be affected, including all leases, permits, rights-of-way, land use authorizations and valid existing rights,” the news release said.