In 2013, Dona Ana County received $9 million dollars in federal money to pave dirt sections of Dripping Springs and Baylor Canyon roads all the way up to the Organ Mountains. But some residents remain divided over the plans just months before the work is scheduled to begin.
The ride on Baylor Canyon road is rough very rough. It’s one of two key roads near the Organ Mountains Desert Peaks National Monument. A study commissioned by the Las Cruces Green Chamber of Commerce said the monument should generate an additional 7.4 million dollars in tourism every year. But some say the bumpy ride will hamper efforts to promote the area.
“It is like driving on a wash board, slinging all that gravel up on your car. So its pretty loud and raucous.” Dona Ana County Resident William Giles says.
Giles drives a Toyota Prius; it is low to the ground and doesn’t do well on rocky dirt roads. He says people will be a lot more likely to visit the Organ Mountains area once the roads are brought up to standard and they are not so rough on vehicles.
“Local people who know about that, a lot of them may be reluctant to go out there. Ss you can imagine somebody who is passing through feels incline to visit the newest national monument might be reluctant to go out there when they see that it is kind of a rough gravel road” Giles says.
But improved access and the paving of the roads up to the Organ Mountains is not a sure thing some County residents say paving the roads and more visiting tourists will mean more traffic.
“We have had a lot of experience with people that are not used to driving through live stock” says Retiree Terry Denning lives and works part time as a ranch hand on Baylor Canyon road. He says one of their calves was hit by a car and left for dead recently.
The conflicting issues of better access to the monument and possible traffic resulting from that access led the Bureau of Land Management to take public comments on three options.
Fully pave both Baylor Canyon and Dripping Springs roads, pave the dirt sections of Dripping Springs road and lay gravel on Baylor Canyon or leave both untouched.
Denning is concerned if Baylor Canyon road is paved more people will use the road to bypass the city, creating problems for cattle and wildlife.
“You can’t anticipate what a cow or a horse necessarily is going to do if something comes by at a high speed that is making a lot of noise” Denning says. “That is our concern for safety, both the people in the cars and the people that are using the road way for other purposes and for the livestock and for the wildlife that have to cross” Denning says.
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But according to Bureau of Land Management spokesperson Bill Childress there is only one ranch that would be affected. He says a lot of animal and traffic concerns would be mitigated by road signs and a 35 mile per hour speed limit.
The BLM environmental assessment says paving will have “no effect” on any federally threatened, endangered species or BLM sensitive species, though Childress says wildlife impacts are the reality of any road expansion project.
“We think there is going to be more fatalities to reptile species that like to use those warm surfaces to warm up. But we also recognize that wildlife is probably being impacted under a gravel road scenario.” Childress says.
Childress says there has been a 25 to 30 percent boost in visitors to the Organ Mountains since its monument designation. He says the road improvement project will allow even more people, like William Giles, to visit the monument.
“Dripping springs is kind of a special place for me, for that reason I love to go out there and take photo graphs. I don’t go out there as much as I’d love to know because the road issue with it being paved. It would provide access on a more frequent basis. So I am excited about that.” Giles says.
Ultimately the decision over the road projects will be left up to Dona Ana County and the Bureau of Land Management. The BLM will be accepting public comment until May 26, with the decision being made in early July.
For more information on the proposed road expansion visit the Las Cruces Bureau Of Land Management District Office.
http://www.blm.gov/nm/st/en/fo/Las_Cruces_District_Office.html
