{"id":415217,"date":"2017-08-29T10:28:14","date_gmt":"2017-08-29T16:28:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=415217"},"modified":"2017-08-29T10:28:45","modified_gmt":"2017-08-29T16:28:45","slug":"plan-to-eliminate-bosque-state-park-needs-more-scrutiny","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2017\/08\/plan-to-eliminate-bosque-state-park-needs-more-scrutiny\/","title":{"rendered":"Plan to eliminate Bosque State Park needs more scrutiny"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The

Ken Stinnett<\/p>

The Mesilla Valley Bosque State Park.<\/p><\/div>\n

COMMENTARY:\u00a0<\/strong>When the Mesilla Valley Bosque State Park (MVBSP) opened in 2006 as New Mexico\u2019s first park in 30 years, people were excited. It was Las Cruces\u2019 version of the Rio Grande Nature Center in Albuquerque. More importantly, it was the culmination of years of efforts by our community.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe plan to make this new park our southern jewel along the Rio Grande bosque,\u201d said then State Parks Director Dave Simon.<\/p>\n

Barely a decade later, the future of this local treasure is in doubt. Current State Parks director Christy Tafoya says her agency can no longer afford to operate the facility and plans to turn management over to the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish (NMDGF), which is anxious to save rent by moving out of its current Las Cruces office. The park would cease to exist as a state park.<\/p>\n

\"Kevin

Courtesy photo<\/p>

Kevin Bixby<\/p><\/div>\n

Despite the fact that the Legislature appropriated nearly $3 million to establish the park, the agencies say they don\u2019t need legislative approval to complete the transfer.<\/p>\n

Whether the move is a good thing or not, the public deserves to know more about why it was proposed and what it will mean.<\/p>\n

NMDGF says the park would remain open to the public but admission would be free.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s great, but it begs the question: why can\u2019t State Parks offer free admission as well?<\/p>\n

Tafoya says all state parks are required to charge admission fees. If that is a statutory requirement, then the Legislature should change the law (and Tafoya should be leading the charge to make it happen!). Parks like MVBSP, whose main purpose is conservation and education, should not be held to the same revenue generating standard as recreational giants like Elephant Butte State Park.<\/p>\n

NMDGF says it will provide more staff to manage the park, but who will they be? Of its current 11-member staff in Las Cruces, only one person is an educator. Armed game wardens probably aren\u2019t the people you want leading park tours. NMDGF says it does not plan to hire additional education staff.<\/p>\n

As for its commitment to education, the renovations NMDGF has proposed are telling. It intends to convert the existing classroom at the park into offices, and the park\u2019s exhibit hall into a 100-person meeting room where the Game Commission can hold meetings. When I asked what would happen to the park\u2019s excellent interpretive displays, an agency spokesperson said they might be moved to Leasburg State Park.<\/p>\n

Management of the park will inevitably shift because the agencies have different missions. State Parks is focused on protecting resources and providing recreational and education opportunities for the general public. NMDGF is mainly concerned with satisfying hunters and anglers, whom it refers to as its \u201ccustomers,\u201d and who provide the agency with the bulk of its revenues through purchases of licenses.<\/p>\n

Can NMDGF be counted on to serve a wider public? Maybe, but change won\u2019t come overnight.<\/p>\n

A bill introduced in the 2017 legislature by Senator Jeff Steinborn would have expanded the agency\u2019s mission to include management authority over all of New Mexico\u2019s wildlife (instead of just a limited number of \u201cgame\u201d species). NMDGF opposed it, saying it was an unfunded mandate.<\/p>\n

The agency is decades behind majority public views on such issues as coyote killing contests (it supports them) and meaningful Mexican wolf recovery (opposes).<\/p>\n

Apart from concerns about NMDGF, perhaps a more fundamental question is why State Parks feels it is appropriate to close parks in response to the predictable ebb and flow of funding. This seems a drastic response, and fairly or not, raises questions about other possible motives.<\/p>\n

The community drove the effort to get the bosque park established. We deserve to be included in efforts to save it. The agencies should put the brakes on the proposed transfer and convene a genuine community dialogue about the park\u2019s future.<\/p>\n

Kevin Bixby\u00a0is executive director of the Southwest Environmental Center<\/a>.\u00a0Agree with his opinion? Disagree? We welcome your views. Learn about submitting your own commentary\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The community drove the effort to get the bosque park established. We deserve to be included in efforts to save it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":415220,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192,16],"tags":[147,3278,107],"class_list":["post-415217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary","category-guest-columns","tag-environment","tag-public-lands","tag-roundhouse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=415217"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415217\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/415220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}