A non-profit group that exists to help protect El Camino Real, the remains of a historic trade route that cuts through the land that is set to become Spaceport America, has agreed to not oppose the spaceport after the state agreed to help protect the trail.
That’s good news for supporters of the proposal to raise the gross receipts tax 1/4 percent in
Officials with the Camino Real De Tierra Adentro Trail Association, the preservation group, aren’t necessarily endorsing the spaceport and the tax. They generally realized, however, that calls to move the spaceport away from the historic trail wouldn’t be successful, and took the more practical route of attempting to find compromise.
Essentially, the group has agreed to work with the New Mexico Spaceport Authority to help preserve the trail through the creation of an advisory group. Because the area around the spaceport is so remote, it is among the most well-preserved stretch of the trail.
To help protect that stretch of the trail, the spaceport authority proposes:
• A 20-mile no-development zone around the spaceport.
• Limiting vehicle traffic near the trail and to the spaceport, in part by providing park-and-ride facilities in Hatch and Truth or Consequences.
• Limiting future road easements and mineral exploration in the area.
• Putting underground a massive above-ground power line that runs through the area.
• Committing to a single entry road to the spaceport that uses an existing county road that crosses El Camino Real.
In addition, Gov. Bill Richardson has asked that the trail be placed on the World Heritage Site list, a group of 830 sites around the world deemed worthy of recognition as part of the human legacy that should be preserved for future generations.
Established in 1598, the trail was a primary economic route that ran between