Dona Ana Mountains and BLM

The Bureau of Land Management is holding three meetings concerning recreation issues on the public land in the Dona Ana Mountains. This includes the Checkerboard and Pizza Boulders. Having some presence and input from some climbers would be nice. The meetings are on April 2, 16, and 30 at 1:30pm at the BLM Las Cruces District Office on Marquess St. (off of Valley and Boutz). The meetings are open everyone.

Hi Dan thanks for the heads up
I would like to make at least one of those dates. Can you give a little info on the items of discussion? What issues are they looking at specifically? I try to be somewhat educated about the issues since
going to these things and just spouting off some ignorant opinion that counts for NOTHING in the final vote is just a waste of time.

Is there an email address or physical address I can send comments too? I live out of town but I used to climb there and would like to see continued access.

Pat

Basically, the meetings are to educate the BLM and the public about how the area is currently being used/managed, issues, and future usage ideas/concerns and possible management changes.

In the first meeting (which I found out about last minute and couldn't post it here in time), a fairly large group of hikers, mountain bikers, OHV users, horse riders and interested citizens showed up. No climbers though, besides myself. Most of the concerns were with access, future development of trails and areas for OHVs, signage and education about the area.

Pretty much any comments are welcomed. I'm pretty new to climbing out in that area so I'm not yet aware of many issues. Having some presence from climbers would be good though. In the future meetings, some organizations will be present.

Send me a message on here and I can give you my email or you can send comments in writing to:
BLM
c/o Tom Phillips, Dona Ana Mtns
1800 Marquess St.
Las Cruces, NM 88005

Thanks for bringing this up. I probably never would have heard about it otherwise. unfortunately, my work schedule will keep me from attending, but I'll be sure to write to the contact you provided. Some questions I've had are how the BLM feels about bolting and trail-building to the cliffs. I also was wondering about access roads. I once drove out there intending to go to the Pizza boulders but the Chihuahuan Desert Nature Park had gated off the access road (the one coming from the Jornada Sign turn-off) because vandals had trashed their rest-area/trail-head. This was maybe a 1/2 year ago now, and i haven't been back out there, but I was wondering about who controls access on that rd.

Thanks for the input. I'll bring up those issues at the meeting tomorrow. I went out to the Pizza Boulders a couple weeks ago and thought having some trails around them would make climbing there a little more pleasurable and less random traffic on the area all around.

I know the road through the Desert Nature Park is an issue with all groups and not sure how that'll play out but I went in through the powerline road. It goes by or very close to the checkerboard parking and continues on through a pass and comes out on the same road as the park but west of the park. It's a good road if you have a high clearance vehicle.

So as of the meeting today:
These points were brought up by the BLM for the user groups to add input:
-Access to Mountains (main routes used)
-Routes used in the mountains and users that could use them (trails)
-Parking Areas Used
-Suggested Improvements (Road Maintenance, new trails, old trails)
-Conflict Areas
-Locations for Signage (Information, directional)
-Hazards
If anyone has input on these let me know or send a written statement to the address mentioned earlier.

As far as bolting goes, I asked the managers and all of the peaks are within an Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC). So, no chipping, bolting or permanent alteration to the rock is permitted.

In other news of that area, I spoke with someone from the NMSU research center (to the north and west of the Dona Mtns) and he said he would bring up the idea of allow guided climbing access into climbing areas on their land, such as the north boulder field and some other routes. Let me know if there is some interest in this. I'm going to email him in the next week or so about it.

The last meeting is this Thursday, April 30, at 1:30pm at the BLM office in Las Cruces. All users will be submitting ideas for future use, current problem/overuse areas and any other concerns regarding recreation use in the Dona Ana Mountains. Some climber presence would be good, since there has been none at the other meetings.

Dan,

I would like to make this last meeting but I'm not sure if my work schedule will allow it. I went out to the Pizza Boulders the weekend of the 18th and found the Pizza Boulders proper had been trashed. Some hilljacks had dumped paint/spray painted them, broken a lot of glass, and left a bunch of trash, including their Wal-mart tent. I had walked in on that trip, next time I hope to have vehicle and pack out some of the garbage.

On another note, I am curious about the old 1/4" bolts on some of the highball boulders out there. How does the BLM feel about replacing existing hardware? A lot of these things are pretty ancient and could use updating to decent 3/8" bolts.