Talpa trails group asks for more time
It hasn’t gone off the rails, exactly, but the Talpa Foothills Working Group tapped the brakes during its second meeting on Monday night (Feb. 27) at the Sagebrush Inn and Suites conference center.
The working group, made up of 15 individuals representing the acequia and land grant communities, recreational trail users and trail builders, Talpa and other nearby community residents, the Town of Taos, Taos County and Taos Pueblo, is tasked with refining maps of proposed trails in the Talpa Foothills. The group is led by a third party facilitator and overseen by the Carson National Forest.
At its first meeting on Jan. 26, members were asked to create trail maps indicating where they would like to see official trails — or not — and be ready to present their ideas this week.
But at the start of Tuesday’s meeting, District 3 Taos County Commissioner Darlene Vigil said she was among the working group’s members who hadn’t yet drawn a map and who wanted more time, requests for which ranged from one to three months.
“Besides not having the skills to design a trail of any sort, I would not in good conscience put my name on anything right now,” she told the group. “I’m going to say there are many here who are probably in the same boat I am. It’s really apparent to me by the last public meeting we held, that many individuals of the community are not aware of what’s taking place. I think it’s fair to say that we need more time to get the word out there, to get more feedback.”
Ricardo Leon, lands and recreation officer for the Carson National Forest, responded that an extension could be granted, but cautioned that “we have several priorities — on top of Talpa Traverse and Talpa Trails, and a Talpa proposal that solves Talpa problems — that will compete with this. Pushing it back could have an impact on where this falls getting resolved.”
The overarching goal of the working group is to come up with a collaborative community trail proposal that is amenable to all stakeholders, with the hope that disagreements over trails and trail locations can be worked out before a required National Environmental Policy Act process begins. Without a consensus, past attempts to move forward with trail development in the area have failed to gain traction.
“Delays are a tactic of kicking the can down the road,” said Jeff Mugleston, who served as the Carson National Forest’s Continental Divide Trail coordinator for 20 years. “We’ve been trying to get this Talpa Traverse Trail laid down since 1991.”
On paper, the project area appears suited to offer Taos-area residents and visitors convenient access to hiking, mountain biking, horseback riding and other outdoor pursuits on public land managed by the Carson National Forest. On the ground, there’s nowhere to establish trailheads along the part of the forest that abuts private property in Talpa and Taos; in closed session at its regular meeting on Tuesday, however, the Taos Council discussed litigation involving a now-contested right of way that once fed the municipal Outward Link Trail into the South Boundary Trail and unofficial Talpa Traverse Trail.
Several trailheads were proposed along Rio Chiquito Road, but at least two were challenged by members of the working group as being near sensitive infrastructure or cultural sites.
Due to the many cultural sites in the southwestern portion of the project area, some who live adjacent to the forest and in the surrounding rural communities are vehemently opposed to developing any official trail system within miles of the forest edge. Other neighbors simply don’t want more forest access and improved trails to draw more visitors, which they fear will change the character of their community, possibly result in damage to acequia
infrastructure or cultural sites, and degrade their quality of life.
“We had lots of concerns,” Judy Torres, executive director of Taos Valley Acequia Association, told the Taos County Commission during the public comments period of its Feb. 21 regular meeting. “We are very concerned that the Forest Service is not hearing a lot of our concerns but they’ve tasked us with a big task of developing trails without listening to comments, public comments before they develop the trails.”
Several Talpa residents have said they believe no trails should be built in the southwest portion of the project area due to the spiritual significance of the area, its shrines and its use by penitentes.
“We’re kind of under attack by the hunger and the greed of the mountain bikers and the trail builders,” a man with the last name of Collier told commissioners during the same meeting at which Torres spoke. “They have a kind of unholy alliance, which wants to push through an increase in the amount of territory that those people can use.
“The little hill behind Talpa has been, for over 200 years, a spiritual wilderness,” Collier said.
Spencer Bushnell, an avid mountain biker and trail user, presented a plan Tuesday night that featured a relatively high number of trails —
some of which were near cultural sites of religious significance — tailored to different types of recreation.
“I’m fully aware that the south end of the ridgeline holds a lot of cultural significance, and I truly respect the significance of the hillside,” Bushnell said. “But it is my church as well, as someone that likes to get out in the woods. It’s a different type of church, but it’s still my church.”
He was also among several members who asked that access and even specialty trails be included so disabled individuals can more readily enjoy the new trail system. Bushnell was reprimanded for referring to a “mob mentality” among Talpa residents that he said has silenced residents there who do want trails and a trailhead.
“I’ve spoken to equestrians that would love to have a trailhead, and they live in the community [of Talpa], and they were too scared to speak up at the Talpa community meeting because of the mob mentality,” he said, at which point facilitator Heather Bergman interjected, “Hey, hey, hey,” as others emitted sounds of outrage. He later apologized.
“They would very much like a trailhead close to where they are,” Bushnell finished.
Currently there are no professionally-built or maintained trails within the bulk of the project area, and the
user-created trails, some of which have been in use for hundreds, if not thousands of years, are currently a source of conflict between different types of recreationists traveling at different speeds. In addition to creating a safer, more navigable trail system for all users, professionally-built trails create far fewer environmental problems than user-created trails, which often lead to erosion and drainage issues, for example.
Leon told the Taos News in January that, regardless of the outcome of the working group, the Forest Service will establish official trails in the foothills. This week he noted that, while members’ requests for more time are understandable, delaying the process isn’t good for the environment.
“Delays mean the impacts on the the landscape from non-sustainable trails” continue, he said.
Ultimately all members agreed to a two-month extension. A Carson National Forest spokesperson said the group’s next meeting, scheduled for March 9, is canceled.
“Rest of schedule is TBD,” the spokesperson said.