A new space to recreate
BLM releases new plans for Horsethief Mesa trails project
Approximately 36 miles of formally established trails are in the works for Horsethief Mesa, the area just northwest of Arroyo Hondo in the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument, according to the Bureau of Land Management.
The 2,060-acre area borders the John Dunn Bridge to the
southwest and a parking lot along County Road B-008 to the northeast, located just off State Road 522. The new “Horsethief Mesa Travel Management Plan” is similar to a town or county land use plan, and develops a vision for the area for the coming months and decades.
The area has seen its fair share of use over the years, with many
two-track routes crisscrossing the area. Recently, mountain bikers
have begun to access the mesa due to its proximity to town and
its terrain, said BLM Taos Field Manager Pamela Mathis.
After putting several plan options to the public in July 2020, the BLM received a total of
83 comments. Some suggested expanded options for OHVs and cars, while others preferred the area return to a much more uninterrupted state, seeing many trails limited.
Eventually, the BLM met these groups somewhere in the middle,
settling on “Alternative E,” which balances the need for environmental protection with the need
for outdoor recreation. “It’s about access; about recreation access; biking and hiking access; and the balance of having access and nature,” Mathis said.
A total of five different alternative plans were presented to the
public, with Alternative E being added at the end to balance the request for increased bike access,
said BLM Outdoor Recreation Manager Tami Torres. “There were other themes on wildlife
protection and cultural protection,” she said.
The plan includes closing and limiting redundant OHV tracks. “In this particular plan, motorization is pretty limited,” said Mathis. They will close 10 miles of “largely redundant two-track” trails, limiting motorized access to 6.34 miles of roadway to be used primarily for fishing, hunting and woodgathering.
“It’s our cornerstone in the Bureau of Land Management to
have accessible public lands for many, many uses,” said Mathis. “We really wanted to honor some of the traditional uses, [including] horseback riding, fishing and wood collection,” she added,
noting that recent data shows one-third of Taos County residents rely on wood as their primary heat
source. “It was also important to us to consider culture and tradition when expanding recreation.”
“The idea is that you’re trying to limit the number of overall disturbances to your landscape and to
keep routes going in one direction and not have several of them,” said Torres of the decision to limit OHV traffic in much of the area.
While the new plan limits motorized vehicle access, it aims to expand access for other types of trail use, including designated
mountain bike trails, by 14 miles. However, due to the decision
regarding the use of motorized vehicles, “e-bikes” — or any type of bike with an assisted motor — will be prohibited from using the trails. “In [the case of e-bikes], it’s not an
overwhelming disturbance, but what happens is you get a lot of soil erosion.”
Regular, non-motorized bikes will be allowed, and there has been a “pretty high interest” from
mountain bikers in using Horsethief Mesa recently, said Torres, “but there’s also a good mix of
horseback riding and hiking and running as well.”
The Enchanted Circle Trails Association said they are excited
to see the expansion of trails in the area. ECTA Director Carl Colonius
said he looks forward to working with the BLM to help implement the project. “The [approval of the plan] portrays an agency that is
listening to the public that desires more diverse trail experiences … We look forward to collaborating with the BLM to implement this project.”
The plan (which originated all the way back in 2010) will move
forward in several stages, but Mathis and Torres said they don’t anticipate the first groundwork to be laid immediately. “That’s always the big chore after you have the
planning document is the implementation,” said Mathis.
Torres said they currently didn’t have any “go dates,” but they have developed “implementation priority steps,” some of which include designating and grading trails and developing new kiosks. “The plan includes a really basic sign plan, and where signs need to be
located. We need to educate the public about where they can go now,” she said.
The expansion of the parking lot is also in the cards, as well as generally creating a “more formalized public access that wasn’t available before,” said Torres.
Both Torres and Mathis are excited to begin work on the area, and gather input from the public on an issue that directly affects
them. “Anytime that the public is engaged with its public lands, is an exciting time for the bureau,” said Mathis.