Open Space and Trail Network Meeting
1. MPO Policy Committee adopted the 2005 Transportation Plan, including the trail plan, last week.
2. BLM mailed out a newsletter summarizing public input received for Mimbres Resource Management Plan revision; Open Space and Trail Vision is mentioned more than once.
3. The Extraterritorial Zone is beginning a process to revise the ETZ Zoning Ordinance.
4.
Deputy State Land Commissioner Bob
Jinks has resigned; Dennis Garcia is acting Deputy Commissioner.
Trust for Public Lands Update
Nissa Maddox came down from Denver for
start-up meeting for citizen committee to work with TPL and City on public
finance measure; about 15 attended meeting.
Went through draft feasibility study and discussed committee’s
role. Focus is to find out what the
public would be willing to pay for, and how much; identification of specific
projects would come later. Public
survey will be completed and evaluated to decide what to recommend to City
Council.
Camino Real Long Distance Trail Office
Mike Taylor with the National Park Service and Sarah Schlanger from the BLM
described the National Trails program and the Camino Real trail, which was
designated in 2000. Comprehensive
management plan for the trail is available at www.nps.gov/elca
Groundwork
Steve Silver (Exec. Director of Groundwork
El Paso) and Sergio Guerrero (Rio Grande Council of Governments) handed out
fliers and described Groundwork program.
Program started in England 25 years ago; most US projects to date have
been in eastern cities, with a focus on brownfield reclamation. Program provides funding for creation of
organization to work on various environmental projects; looking to expand into
western states. Some of the projects
Groundwork El Paso is currently working on include a pocket park on site of an
old gas station, an arroyo that was dedicated to them, and the River Trail
(website: www.groundworkelpaso.org).
Application process: letter of
interest accompanied by letter of support from governmental sponsor (Groundwork
El Paso’s governmental sponsor is El Paso County) due September 5. Application is evaluated by national
committee, and if it is chosen, $10,000 is released to do a feasibility
study. If feasibility study suggests
moving forward, $90,000 is released for first year (requires $25,000/year match
from local govt sponsor for 3-year period) to create organization, hire Exec.
Director. Deliverables in first year:
website, informational flyer, and at least one completed project.
Groundwork El Paso (GWEP)
interested in collaborating with Network, either on specific projects, or to
help create another official Groundwork organization in our area. Network sub-committee to follow up with
GWEP: Sandy Geiger, Ray Bowers, Richard Hummel, Susan Krueger, Pinky Kingsley,
and Carol McCall (maybe). Sub-committee
will either report back to Network at August meeting, or organize another
session with GWEP for that meeting.