Develop trails with existing public access, avoid condemnation

In response to My Turn two weeks ago, the Talpa community and our neighbors stand in opposition to the proposed development/expansion of a trail system in the Talpa Foothills. The “Talpa Traverse,” also known as the “Talpa Ridge Trail Plan” as it is called by the Enchanted Circle Trails Association and TMBA, is a centuries-old network of walking and horseback riding paths that has provided generational families with access to the mountains for traditional purposes dating back centuries. Today, our families continue to use the trails for access to important religious shrines, collection of natural resources and maintenance of acequia infrastructure.

For generations, our families have sought solace and prayer in the mountains. This is why a number of important religious shrines exist in the Talpa foothills, where many local residents continue to hike and pray. These shrines have existed for many decades, despite the occasional vandalism and need to rebuild them. Increased expansion of the trails will lead to more vandalism and disrespect for our cultural sites.

As commissioners and parciantes of Acequia Madre and Acequia del Monte del Rio Chiquito, Talpa Reservoir Acequia, Acequia Antonio Maria Graham and Talpa Community Center Board of Directors, we have concerns about garbage, erosion and human waste left behind by users of trail systems. The proposed increased use in the Talpa foothills threatens contamination of our precious waters. We are protective of our lands and water and will stand up to the disrespectful overuse of resources that have provided our families with traditional ways for generations. This is why Talpa Ridge Trail Plan is opposed by Taos Valley Acequia Association, New Mexico Acequia Association, New Mexico Acequia Commission, Directors of Ranchos de Taos Neighborhood Association and other organizations who have voiced opposition to the USFS along with many residents of the area.

The ECTA and TMBA promised to keep the trails clean, since U.S. Forest Service admits current systems of trails can’t be maintained, and disputes will escalate. We don’t want to find ourselves in a similar situation in the future when we need to protect our traditional ways of life. Our acequias, recognized by the State of New Mexico as having been in existence since 1760, form the backbone of our communities and are one of the oldest forms of community organization in our state. The acequias and the aforementioned request ECTA and TMBA turn their attention for trail development to public lands that do not bring traditional, generational families into conflict with recreationists.

Despite rhetoric that “outsiders” like the Bambergs are changing Taos, it is outside groups like ECTA and TMBA that increase gentrification pressure and threaten to change the landscape that has existed in harmony with generational families for centuries. You only need to look at their boards of directors to see lack of diversity. You only need to walk the “popular” trails to see complete lack of respect for the land. If the conversation about the Outward Link Trail centers around the length of time residents have been in Taos, then you must heed our request, as families with some of the deepest roots, that the plans for this proposed Talpa Ridge trail system be thrown away. Fact is, the generational families that are most deeply-impacted by the development and expansion may not be as loud as those in opposition to Ms. Bamberg and proponents of the trail plan, but we are the silent majority.

There is no need to develop trails close to our traditional lands, threaten our traditional way of life or to rely on private property to create a trail system when access to roads and trails already exists though public land. Certainly, condemnation of any private property to gain access to trails is unnecessary, smacks of government overreach, and will create ill will within a community where private property rights are paramount and defended to the utmost. Committing any time by elected officials or tax money to pursuing condemnation to benefit very few local residents and many with no understanding or knowledge of local culture is foolhardy at best. We fully support the Mayor in using limited tax dollars first for the greater good of the community: infrastructure, housing, treatment center, etc. We call upon ECTA and TMBA to look at public lands deeper into the mountain, with existing public access and we would be supportive of those efforts. We will continue to oppose the efforts that will inevitably lead to the same kind of conflict occurring today around the Outward Link trail.