By GARTH READER
Los Alamos
Hey Los Alamos, how would you feel if development of public lands occurred with:
- No/limited input from the surrounding community
- No/limited input from user groups
- No approval from oversight entities
- No environmental or engineering reviews
- No consideration of the long-term impacts of the development
Now, how would you feel if this occurred in Los Alamos County and our surrounding Federal public lands? Well guess what, it is happening right here, right now.
There has been an explosion of “user defined” trails being carved out of your public lands. These trails are being developed under the radar and are illegal and detrimental to the environment, trail users and the community.
The Los Alamos County Open Space Management Plan governs the construction and maintenance of trails to protect natural and cultural resources. It requires that all trail work be approved and managed by the county. Additionally, a Special-Use Permit is required for building or altering trails on Forest Service land. Unauthorized, or “social” trails can cause environmental damage and potentially present safety risks.
There are over 75 miles of developed trails within the county and surrounding Santa Fe National Forest. It is hard enough to maintain existing trails without the impact of miles of new unauthorized ones. New social/user defined trails are destroying fragile habitat with impacts on wildlife and the aesthetics of our community.
Poorly built trails have limited lifespans and when they are no longer usable, new ones spring up in their place. One just needs to look at Pajarito Mountain to see examples.
So, what can you do?
- Voice your opposition to this rogue activity
- Participate in applicable public meetings
- Bring to the attention of oversight agencies the existence of user defined/social trails and request mitigation
- Avoid using user defined/social trails
- Document the construction of user defined/social trails.
- Help with the reclamation of user defined/social trails.
Everyone supports a robust, maintainable trail system for all user groups. However, there needs to be thought and planning, so it is sustainable. How many miles of trails are needed for Los Alamos? That is for all public lands users to decide upon, not individuals or a specific user group.