Trail building equestrians of New Mexico

[Una Smith <una.smith AT att.net>]

None of the BPE meeting minutes for 2009 have yet been approved 
so they are not posted on the web yet.  But I have obtained the
draft minutes for 3 of the 4 quarterly meetings (executive and
public) in 2009.  Here is my personal ad-hoc summary of horse-
specific content.


At the Roswell meeting members of the public included:
Rebecca Gutierrez, Pecos Valley Horseman
Albert Seminator, Aspice Morgans

There was a discussion of horse riding in Roswell.  Cadets at
NM Military Institute are no longer permitted to ride either 
bikes or horses on campus.  The state highway through downtown
has no shoulders and pedestrians say walking downtown is hard.
Ms. Gutierrez stated day trips with horses are OK, would like
parking that could better accomodate long horse trailers.

A bicycle advocate requested more information on how bicycles
should interact with horses.


At the Moriarty meeting

A trail between El Dorado and Rancho Viejo is in planning stage.
This will be a 2.7 mile trail that connects many miles of other,
existing trails.

Conversion of the “Chili Line” rail alignment in Torrance County
to a multiple use trail was discussed.  This parallels NM 41.
NMDOT may own most of the right of way.

Extension of the Paseo del Bosque trail north and south from ABQ
is in progress.

The new Tramway Multi-Use Trail is very successful, much used.
But some adjacent land owners have encroached on the easement w
walls and landscaping.  Trail stewardship is needed.

The NM driver license manual mayby could be expanded to include
content about interacting with nonmotorized users (B, P, E).

Mention in 2008 minutes of a report by Rodolfo Monge-Oveido on
“equestrian fatalities” while speaking about Mid-Rio Council of
Government projects was a typo:  Mr. Monge-Oveido reported on
“equestrian facilities”.  Whew!
 
League of American Bicyclists is planning a big rally in ABQ in
June 2010, and related activities around the state.  Their bike
ed program includes dealing with other trail users inc horses.

Several interesting project focus on bike/ped trails, no mention
of horses.  That does not mean horses are not part of the plan.
Specifically, in Raton and Trinidad along the old railroad beds.  
(Raton Pass is one of my absolute favorite places in New Mexico;
gorgeous terrain, Cretaceous Tertiary boundary paleontology, and
fascinating history related to the railroads.)


Again, the above is my own outline of exerpts of draft minutes.
The minutes contain many other items that may be of interest to
TREQ-NM readers.  Once the minutes are approved, you will find
them on the NMDOT BPE website.  Many people are doing many
interesting things;  let's all communicate more with each other.

        Una Smith