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Plan for renting historic cabin to tourists is stuck in bureaucracy
AU.S. Forest Service proposal to allow public rental of the historic Aldo Leopold cabin in Tres Piedras has stalled due to political gridlock at the U.S. Department of the Interior.
“What a shame. It’s a great attraction that could really help bring more visitors to northern New Mexico,” says Deb Graves, owner of the Chile Line Depot restaurant off U.S. 285 in rural Tres Piedras.
The cabin was built by Leopold, considered a founding father of the nation’s wilderness conservation movement, when he was the Forest Service’s district ranger in 1911.
The Forest Service announced the proposal to rent the cabin in September 2016, noting that it wanted to offer the public a unique recreational experience while also providing funds for maintenance of the historic building. Money earned from cabin and other rental properties within the Forest Service stays within the district where it is raised and is a valuable tool in helping pay for maintenance and other costs.
Forest Service cabin rentals are popular and plentiful in Colorado and other states, but New Mexico doesn’t have any available.
The Leopold cabin features four furnished bedrooms and can accommodate up to 11 guests. It has a fullyequipped kitchen and dining room, a library and fireplace and would rent for $175 a night. The cabin’s wide, covered front porch offers sweeping views of the surrounding countryside and is perfect for whiling away an afternoon. Outdoor recreational opportunities abound within nearby forest and wilderness areas, including the Rio Grande Gorge.
The proposal hit a snag due to the Forest Service’s need to have it vetted and approved by the public before it can be implemented, says Amy Simms, a public service staff officer with the Carson National Forest in Taos.
The Forest Service needs to use an existing U.S. Interior Department Bureau of Land management resource advisory committee to vet such a proposal in New Mexico.
Such committees are made up of members of the public who represent various industries, recreation and government. Members apply for appointment by the secretary of the interior and routinely meet to provide public input on federal agency operations.
But Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, shortly after his appointment by President Donald Trump, suspended use of the RAC committees. Some were reinstated, but other committees were left with no appointments.
The Farmington District Office committee, which heard from U.S. Forest Service staff about the Leopold House rental proposal during a recent meeting in Taos, is one of those RAC committees operating without a full roster. It can’t conduct any official business, such as approving the Forest Service proposal, due to its lack of a quorum.
“I’ve got the feeling they’re just going to let them die on the vine,” says committee member Mick O’Neil, a retired New Mexico State University agronomy professor and onetime Peace Corps volunteer who served in Africa. “It seems this administration just doesn’t like public input.”
The Interior Department isn’t saying whether those who have applied to fill the vacancies will be appointed, O’Neill said.
The department’s press office declined to answer several inquiries seeking an explanation.