New Mexico Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard standing Tuesday afternoon near the eastern edge of the state trust land available for lease at Entrada. The land office has seen record breaking back-to-back years of revenue of over $1 billion since Commissioner Garcia Richard took office in January 2019. The money earned from its leasing activity supports public schools, universities, hospitals, water and land conservation projects and public building construction and repair in New Mexico. Photo by Carol A. Clark/ladailypost.com

By CAROL A. CLARK
Los Alamos Daily Post
caclark@ladailypost.com

In a value for value land exchange with the Pueblo of Santa Ana, the New Mexico Land Office has acquired 2.37 acres at Entrada that will open up economic opportunity for Los Alamos.

“It’s important to remember that the state land office does not sell or buy land as a matter of course,” New Mexico Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard said during an interview Monday with the Los Alamos Daily Post. “Sometimes we will have a very specialized lease that has a sale provision, but that is not the case here.”

Commissioner Garcia Richard explained that the land office is a constitutionally created state agency that leases its 13 million acres of working lands across the state, from which revenues derived go to benefit public schools, universities and hospitals throughout New Mexico. A portion of lease revenues realized from the property at Entrada will directly benefit Los Alamos Public Schools and UNM-Los Alamos, she said.

County Manager Steve Lynne spoke to the Post about the project earlier this week.

“I’m excited about the possibility of partnering with the land office on this potential development,” Lynne said.

Commissioner Garcia Richard mentioned that she learned of the Pueblos’ interest in land exchanges some three years ago.

“When I was running for land commissioner in 2018, I heard from tribal communities that they were interested in increased access to their ancestral lands that were under the purview of the state and in certain cases, even land exchanges with the state land office in order to return some of their original homelands,” she said.

Commissioner Garcia Richard added that the land office can enter into land exchanges with a few constraints:

• the exchange is preferably to be between governmental entities – not private parties;
• the entity desiring the exchange must bear the cost or reimbursement of all instruments necessary to determine the value of the parcel in question such as a survey, appraisal and appraisal review and any other costs;
• the land to be exchanged must be value for value, not acre for acre. So very often you will have larger swaths of rural or agricultural land exchanged for a smaller parcel with a higher commercial value;
• the state land office was interested in exchanging land with the tribal governments of the state and has undergone two such exchanges so far;
• the land we were seeking in exchange has to have potential for us to raise revenue, since that is our constitutional mission.

Commissioner Garcia Richard said that the reason the parcel in Los Alamos was identified was because after years of representing this community in both the state legislature and on the board of the Los Alamos Commerce and Development Corporation (LACDC), “I knew that one of the main barriers to development is lack of suitable land.”

“The acquisition of this parcel by the state land office means that we will be able to identify a suitable lessee that can develop the parcel in line with the County’s strategic plan for the area,” she said. “An added bonus is that revenue from that lease will benefit Los Alamos Public Schools and UNM-LA as they are both beneficiaries of the land office!”

Reasonably priced, long-term leases between the state land office and county and city governments are quite common around the state, Commissioner Garcia Richard added. 

“We are anxious to meet with the County, LACDC and others to determine the next steps for use of this land,” she said. “We commit to an open and accessible process as we decide how the land should be used for the benefit of Los Alamos and our trust beneficiaries.”

The exchange for the parcel at Entrada began between Santa Ana Pueblo and the state land office in August of 2020.  The Pueblo filed a formal application with the land office to convey their desire for a land exchange on a 1,900-acre parcel of grazing land in Sandoval County that is part of their original homeland, Commissioner Garcia Richard said.

“A series of events took place over the next year in which the Pueblo obtained the required instruments, as well as payment for notice for a public meeting, which was held in Sandoval County,” she said. “Because the value of the state land was appraised at just over $900,000, the Pueblo would have to exchange land with that same–or similar – market value. The state land office determined that the Pueblo did not have suitable commercially-viable land in exchange for the state land parcel they desired, so the parcel in Los Alamos was identified (along with another smaller parcel in Albuquerque) that the Pueblo would purchase and exchange with the state land office. That exchange process culminated with the signing of the exchange patent in October of this year.”

Council Chair Randall Ryti spoke of this opportunity for the community saying, “I hope that this acquisition of the property at Entrada by the State Land Office provides a viable option for those interested in local business development. Successful ground leases will certainly lead to revenues for education locally and across the state.”

LACDC Board Chair Jim Hall spoke to the Post this week about the 2.37-acre parcel coming available for development.

“I greatly appreciate the state land office acquiring this land and making it available to Los Alamos,” Hall said. “Because we are landlocked this property will be of important benefit.”

Map depicting the location of 2.37 acres at Entrada in Los Alamos that the New Mexico Land Office acquired in a land swap with the Pueblo of Santa Ana. Courtesy/NMSLO

Map depicting the location of 2.37 acres at Entrada in Los Alamos that the New Mexico Land Office acquired in a land swap with the Pueblo of Santa Ana. Courtesy/NMSLO