Talpa trails group brings stakeholders to the table
Some of the “resident of proximate communities” members of the Talpa Foothills Working Group were skeptical when they saw the maps, one of which depicted dozens of miles of trails proposed by the Enchanted Circle Trails Association for hikers, cyclists and equestrians.
The working group of 15 diverse stakeholders met for the first time in the Taoseño Room next to the Town of Taos Council Chambers last Thursday night ( Jan. 26).
“Is this the baseline we’re starting with?” asked Carlos Arguello, commissioner for the Acequia del Monte del Rio Chiquito and a resident of Talpa.
“No, no, it represents what could be on the landscape; it’s an informational tool that shows what’s possible,” said Ricardo Leon, lands and recreation officer for the Carson National Forest, who, along with Peak Facilitation’s Heather Bergman, moderated the group’s first meeting.
“You can start with that map if you’re jamming on that map,” Bergman added. “If you think that map is no good? You can ignore it entirely.”
Arguello later asked for “larger maps” of the Carson, so he could show where trails, in his opinion, would be better situated — far from Talpa. Leon, however, responded that the Forest Service is going to come up with a trail plan for the Talpa foothills area.
“You can consider other places, but we need to address the issues with Talpa,” Leon said. “It doesn’t mean other things aren’t out of the realm of possibility. The Forest Service isn’t gonna look at a no-action alternative, no trails, OK? Something needs to exist on this land. Focus on that. Talk to us about what and where.”
Last week’s was the first of four meetings scheduled for the working group, which will next
convene on Feb. 27. All members of the group were given maps to bring to their constituents and asked to bring them back to the meeting later this month with proposals for trails in the Talpa foothills.
To Arguello, the Enchanted Circle Trails Association map represented an invasion of ancestral backyards, even though those backyards are considered public land with no access along a three-milelong patch of the Carson National Forest that sits next to private property in Talpa and Taos.
Arguello told the Taos News there are many shrines and other sacred sites in the forest area, which is also used by local penitentes.
But to other members, the trails association map represents an opportunity to consolidate and improve informal trails and better open up the forest to the public. For the U.S. Forest Service, it’s a starting point from which to eventually reduce environmental damage caused by a separate spaghetti bowl of user-created trails, which — without proper design — cause erosion, threaten the landscape and cause conflict between users.
The agenda of the first meeting was largely informational, and was intended to develop “a shared understanding of member interests,” according to a Carson National Forest press release. With the assistance of Bergman, the latter half of the meeting took on the character of a focus group. Members shared goals for the trail plan, which Bergman wrote on large easel paper.
Any draft trails plan will have to undergo either an environmental assessment or National Environmental Policy Act review before it is finalized, a process that could take years.
Concerns about access and overcrowding were raised by several members, as well as a general goal to reduce conflict between forest users. One man suggested a “buffer zone” be established between the closest trail and private property owners.
Judy Torres, executive director of the Taos Valley Acequia Association, asked that any plan protect the watershed.
Karina Armijo, director of marketing and tourism for the Town of Taos, was among several members who also expressed support for designing equitable access to public lands into a trails plan.
“Easy access for town residents of all ages, and multiple access points to limit overcrowding,” should be a goal of the working group, she said.
Spencer Bushnell, a physical therapist and avid mountain biker, asked that the trail plan “create a community recreation asset that’s available to everyone.”
Taos Councilor Darien Fernandez, who as the conservation program director for Rocky Mountain Youth Corp, was among several working group members with expertise in trail building, made and effort to engage Taos Pueblo representative Del Romero in the team building (or focus group) exercise.
“Del, smack me if I’m talking out of turn, but [the trails] need to sustain tribal uses as well,” Fernandez suggested.
Romero, who was relatively quiet during the meeting, agreed, telling Bergman that the final trail plan, which essentially covers part of the pueblo’s ancestral lands, “should sustain trail access, trails and crossings, that were there many years back.”
“’Sustains tribal access and traditional uses’ — are you OK with that, Del?” Bergman asked.
“Yeah, that’d be fine,” Romero said.
Future meetings of the working group will occur throughout the winter and into the spring, with the final meeting slated for April 24. The public is able to participate in two community feedback events, one in person and the other virtual, on March 30 and April 6. More information is available on the Talpa Foothills Working Group page of the Carson National Forest website.