Open Space and Trail Network

Meeting Summary

17 March 2004

Announcements:  Spring newsletter of 1000 Friends of NM was distributed as an insert in the Las Cruces Sun News on 7 March.  Page 4 had an article about the Network which CTF was invited to submit.

Updates:

A.      Land trust sub-committee.  A draft report describing the research and recommendations of the sub-committee investigating the possibility of establishing a local trust has been written; will hopefully be ready for distribution by next Network meeting.  Because of the difficulty of establishing and maintaining a viable trust, primary recommendation is to work with the New Mexico Land Conservation Collaborative, an existing statewide trust, on a pilot project in the Mesilla Valley.

B.       Implementation sub-committee.  A draft MOU calling for development of policy plan for arroyos had been written.  Next sub-committee meeting will be April 1, to hear from Jack Pickel about his master plan for part of the Alameda Arroyo and to pick his brain about mechanisms to ensure entire arroyo corridor is preserved.

Brochures:

A.      Brochures and posters arrived with a few errors introduced after final proof.  Reprinting would use up rest of $2500 available to Network.  Reprinting a smaller batch of corrected brochures was suggested, but pricing of printing costs doesn’t make small runs significantly cheaper than large runs.  Because of cost and relatively short “shelf-life” of brochure (hope to replace it with a draft “proposed vision” by summer), consensus was that we just use the brochures as is, and make hand corrections to posters.

B.       Distribution:  Suggested individuals/sites for brochures included

                Suggested sites for posters included: SWEC, City Hall, City Office Building, County planning

Vision/Inventory Process:

A.      Final product: more detailed map than on brochure, plus simple document outlining implementation recommendations, priorities, and the process that created the Proposed Vision.

B.       Timeline: Draft map to be completed by next Network meeting; Network members also asked to come to that meeting prepared with ideas for public outreach campaign (Chamber of Commerce’s list of community and service organizations suggested as good place to start.  Farm and Land Forum in May will also be good public outreach opportunity).  Public outreach will continue through June; public comment incorporated into final Vision July-Sept.  Presentation to elected officials, October.

C.       Feedback: a few editorial suggestions were made about the Inventory and Rationale Drafts handed out at last meeting.

Next meeting is scheduled for April 21.