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Thursday, November 1, 2007

Open Space Not Always Known

By Lee Ross
Mountain View Telegraph
    The East Mountains are full of wide open spaces, places saved from developments or sprawling houses.
    Not all of those spaces are well-known, however, or even accessible.
    Bernalillo County, Albuquerque and even Edgewood all manage large pieces of land, all of which have their own advantages and challenges.
   
Bernalillo County
    "In terms of local culture, these properties have some pretty amazing history," says Becky Alter, an open-space planner for Bernalillo County.
    Although efforts are under way to open them, all of the county's large East Mountains open space properties are closed to the public.
    One of those properties, Sabino Canyon, has structures on it from Riedmont Fur Farm that date to the 1920s.
    Sabino Canyon, about seven miles south of Tijeras and bisected by Forest Road 252, is about 117 acres of forest and meadowland. It has an ADA-accessible trail planned and should be open next fall, Alter said.
    The Carlito Springs open space, 177 acres north of Interstate 40 near the exit to Tijeras, also has a rich history.
    This area was inhabited by both Anasazi Indians and Spaniards and has two abandoned gold mines. The fruit trees and a perennial spring are both a draw for wildlife.
    It was also a boys' home and tuberculosis sanitarium from the 1930s to the '70s.
    Access is permitted by reservation only, and some tree-thinning projects have to be completed before the property is opened.
    Another area managed by the county doesn't just have historical significance, but is an important part of people's lives in the surrounding area. Ojito de San Antonio, formerly known as Los Manzanares, is home to a historic acequia built by Spaniards in the 1800s.
    "People drink water out of that acequia right now," said Chuck VanGelder, a member of the East Mountain Historical Society.
    Ojito de San Antonio consists of 88 acres and is west of N.M. 14, about a mile north of I-40.
    Its name was changed from Los Manzanares when Bernalillo County bought the property, blocking a development there, in 1999.
    "They were going to put 80 condos on it," VanGelder said.
    The county also manages a 496-acre property called Sedillo Ridge, located south of the Sedillo exit on I-40 and several miles west of N.M. 217. It is near the Cedro Peak Recreation Area in the Cibola National Forest.
    Alter said recreational users often enter Sedillo Ridge via forest trails and don't realize they have left the forest.
    This area, like Ojito, was once a proposed subdivision. To address problems with access to the property, Alter said, the county plans to purchase an adjacent property to use for both access and as a parking lot.
   
Edgewood
    Edgewood is also grappling with the access issue on its open-space properties. The town holds agricultural leases for two parcels south of Old Route 66 near Edgewood 7. One is 248 acres and the other is 688 acres.
    The properties are landlocked by houses, land controlled by the Bureau of Land Management and areas owned by the city of Albuquerque.
    Roger Holden, Edgewood's parks and recreation director, recently began looking into the possibility of using a utility easement that runs along the south side of both properties and may connect the two.
   
Albuquerque
    Albuquerque's five open-space properties, meanwhile, are open to the public and relatively free of access issues.
    "We wouldn't procure (property) if there wasn't access," said Jay Lee Evans, deputy director of the city's parks and recreation department.
    In a recent effort to acquire open space, the city contributed money to an ongoing effort to purchase about 420 acres east of N.M. 14 in Cedar Crest.
    The Albuquerque City Council committed $500,000 toward the purchase. Other money raised includes legislative appropriations, money from the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department and other sources.
    It is still about $100,000 short of the property's price of about $2.3 million.
    That land would extend the existing 300-acre Gutierrez Canyon open space that is already owned by the city.
    Currently the property can be accessed via Gutierrez Canyon Road west of Zuzax on I-40, but if the additional purchase is made a new access is planned from N.M. 14.
    North of Gutierrez Canyon is the city's 168-acre San Antonito Open Space, east of N.M. 14 and south of Frost Road.
    Another of the smaller parcels owned by the city is Tres Pistolas, or Three Gun Springs. It is 105 acres north of I-40 near Carnuel.
    The access points for both San Antonito and Tres Pistolas are through residential areas.
    As far as ongoing improvements to open spaces, Evans said, the Golden open space is a current focus.
    Golden is about 1,200 acres north of San Pedro Creek Estates on N.M. 14.
    A volunteer trail-building group from the East Mountains has taken an interest in the area.
    "We had about six trail-building sessions, managed to carve out two miles of trail," said Mike Madden, one of the volunteer trail builders.
    Madden said he'd like to see more signs indicating it is a public open space. There is only one sign for the Golden property, and it's about the size of a sheet of paper, Madden said.
    One of the city's larger parcels is the Juan Tomas Open Space, encompassing 1,455 acres near the historic village of Juan Tomas, about 10 miles south of Tijeras.
    Near Juan Tomas is Carolino Canyon, 40 acres off N.M. 337 with picnic shelters, electrical outlets and a number of other facilities. Reservations for Carolino Canyon are required.
    For more information on city open spaces, go to www.cabq.gov/openspace.