Network Meeting Summary

21 January 2004

1.         Public Participation: 

            #            The League of Women Voters of Dona Ana County together with Citizen’s Task Force for Open Space Preservation is hosting a public forum on Wednesday, February 25 featuring New Mexico Land Commissioner Patrick Lyons.  The event will be at the Good Sam Auditorium on Buena Vida Street at 7:00 PM.

2.         BLM Mimbres Management Plan Amendment Process: A handout was prepared and distributed by listing the process and a target timeline.  Questions may be directed to Tom Phillips of the BLM Las Cruces Field Office.

3.         Quick Updates:

            A.            A CTF presentation about the Network, with a short summary of the year’s accomplishments was made to: Las Cruces City Counsel, City P & Z, City Parks and Rec Board, ETZ P & Z, Dona Ana County P & Z.  We have not yet been able to get on the agenda for DAC Commissioners, but will continue our communication with County officials.

            B.            Implementation Sub-group: A report on the most recent meeting was circulated.  The group will be putting together a Policy Statement on arroyo preservation in the next few months.  An “overlay” for arroyos was suggested by a member of City Counsel.  No plan for the major arroyos has ever been developed.  Helen and Nancy will be traveling to Tucson and Albuquerque in the next few weeks to examine their arroyo preservation efforts.  The BLM uses an Executive Order, #11988 in their arroyo planning.  A copy of this order will be examined by the Sub-group.

            C.            Funding and Management Sub-group: Terry Sullivan of the Nature Conservancy gave a report of the options currently being examined by the sub-group.  The options include an interagency governmental entity, the organization of  which could be 3 to 5 years away, and/or a private land trust.  The private land trust could include forming a local land trust or using an already existing land trust from elsewhere.  The conclusion of the sub-group was that a private land trust would be very desirable at least in the near future prior to governmental action.  The sub-group, after studying the issue, concluded that the formation of a land trust from the beginning would be very difficult and time consuming and expensive.  Also, these “start-up” land trusts often do not last over time due to funding problems.  A plan to identify an existing land trust with which we could work has been examined.  Such a land trust is “New Mexico Land Conservation Collaborative,” which is an offshoot of the Taos Land Trust.  The options we are considering would be to either collaborate with this group or delegate to them all of our projects.  George Rawson raised the concern of avoiding the “baggage”of an outside entity and would like a cost analysis of the various options.  The sub-group will now examine a projection of the costs, the role and the activities that a land trust might have.

4.            Brochure Discussion and Consensus:

            The Vision Sub-group brought drafts of the brochure for the Network’s input.  A discussion followed on both text and graphics.  The Network also discussed the audience that the brochure is intended to target.  It was decided that the general public was the audience and that the brochure would also be of help in communicating with the elected officials in our area.

The next meeting will take place at the Branigan Cultural Center on February 18.