This Article contains meeting notes and other documents from the Jemez Mountains Dispersed Recreation Management Collaborative.

Situation Assessment Discussion

 Presentation: Refer to Situation Assessment Summary on page 6 of the materials packet

Comments

• As population increases so will visitation, which we cannot control but have to address through management
• A lack of capacity really means no growth in capacity – no campground growth or any other managed growth since the 60s or earlier
• Recognition that the agency is under resourced, including a lack of enforcement capacity
• Don’t hear enough about Pueblo values in Forest Service materials

What is something in the summary that surprised you or stood out to you, and why?

• None of it is a surprise
• The emphasis of need for shared stewardship
• The amount of funding available is too small for the amount of work needed
• The lack of awareness
  • A need for awareness of cultural values
• Volunteer (re)engagement and education
• Recreation impacts seen during COVID
• Lack of law enforcement capacity for enforcement and for sharing information with the public
• Development and capacity need to be considered together
• Potential for fees to play a role
• Impact on cultural and archaeological sites through the collection of artifacts and desecration
• Trash and litter impacts
• Need to think about the bigger picture & larger system impacts to surrounding communities
  • How growing metro areas are impacting recreation
  • Impacts to Jemez Pueblo, particularly traffic on NM 4
• Working together towards stewardship

Creating a Collaborative Discussion

Discussion around hopes for the collaborative to help create a shared vision, needs to ensure continued engagement, and concerns to be addressed through best practices.

What are your hopes for this collaborative?

• For the dialogue to continue
• Seek to be understood and understand
• Good collaboration that helps address management and enforcement
• Always need to have Native access to water and cultural sites
• Continued access to the Trials area
• Balance recreation with protection
• Promote education through user groups
• Multiple opportunities for education & education strategies
  • Social media education – Instagram groups
  • Incorporate stewardship into recreation activities through recreation groups
  • Use programs like Leave No Trace, Tread Lightly
• Finding contacts to get stuff done
• Being on the same page
• Improvement in communication – with each other and the public
• Collaboration brings in other ideas
• Pool resources, consider going to legislature
• Landscape awareness
• Merge Pueblo needs with recreation needs
• New recommendations
• Reduction in bureaucracy

What needs to happen in this collaborative to keep you engaged?

• Common understanding of the roadmap forward
• Clear direction and Clear goals
• Keep the momentum going, provide an open forum
• Actionable items and being results oriented
• Regular meetings – quarterly or more
• Involvement of Valles Caldera
• Keep Trials area open
• Grant writing and matching funds for continued support
• Lobby state legislature
• Communication
• Balance uses on the landscape
• Implement with policy

What are you concerned about in regard to this collaborative?

• Long term funding, would like to see this being a line item in a budget
• Loss of access to recreation activities
• Frustration if there is a lack of progress
• Lack of participation
• Ideas not moving to action
• Lack of focus
• Recreation needs overwhelming cultural needs or vice versa
• Measuring results

Next Steps

Proposal from Forest Service

• The collaborative has a role in setting the roadmap for the future, but the Forest Service is on the hook to do something with the current funding
  • Collaborative can help identify other ideas that could be worked on together
• A resource inventory is planned for next field season
  • The collaborative has a role to help identify priority areas for the inventory
• Year 2 – NEPA
• Year 3 – Implementation
• Would like to come together at the end of November, beginning of December to begin considering the roles of working groups
  • Working groups would provide a way to collaborate on immediate action items while the larger collaborative helps to set the overall direction

Working group ideas

• Forest Service proposes a Recreation planning working group to help with recreation recommendations
  • Could help figure out designated areas for OHVs
  • Could create a user map for visitors
• Education working group
  • Interpretive programs
  • Create consistent messaging with other land managers
  • Recreate Responsibly campaigns – with Leave No Trace, Tread Lightly
  • Public Outreach Strategy
• History/Cultural working group
  • Can work with education group on accurate interpretive information
• Natural Resources working group
  • To consider recreation through a wildlife/conservation lens
• Stewardship working group
  • Help organize clean-up activities

Recommended additional organizations to engage

• CDTA
• NM Wildlife Federation
• REI?
• NM Overland Expeditions
• Cochiti Pueblo
• Santo Domingo Pueblo
• NM Game and Fish

Jemez Mountains Dispersed Recreation Collaborative Meeting

Date: 12/13/2022

Time: 1:00-4:30PM

Location: Zoom

Outcomes

Participants

28 people attended

Meeting Notes

Miro Board: Jemez Mountains Dispersed Recreation Collaborative, Online Whiteboard for Visual Collaboration (miro.com)

Group Agreements (Le’alani)

• Chris Toya made a prayer and suggested starting prayer at every meeting
  • Prayer about: greeting the sun, reside with our loved ones, make journey today, saying a prayer for the day for strength. Invites everyone to come to this meeting to discuss ancestral homeland, keeping in mind conservation, preservation, future needs. Summary of prayer asking creator, spirit and ancestors, to help how can we better manage resources.
• Jorge Banuelos-Silva - Start and end meeting with prayer to close the meeting with the values of a circle from start to end
• Mark Werkmeister – Better if meetings were held in person
• Jack Dickey – No side conversations
• Mark W. – What is meant by good collaboration?
  • Work in the spirit of Collaboration instead

Goal Statement Review (Bjorn)

• Work together to the benefit of the land, natural and cultural resources, and recreation opportunities in the Jemez Mountains
  • Recreation is part of the legal framework of FS
  • FS view on this is not to increase dispersed recreation or camping; the real goal is to better manage it. Impacts on the land were brough up in the last meeting such as enforcement, visitor education and other factors are resulting in damaging the land.
  • One intent around collaborative: to lean on the knowledge and skills of a wide range of collaborators

Goal Statement Deliberation (Le’alani)

• Jack – doesn’t seem that the goal aligns with the reason why people were brought together which was Outdoor Recreation. Recreation should be first and foremost. Working together in recreation planning to conserve the land. The reason is Recreation, deep understanding on what impacts recreation has on the land.
• Will - New Mexico Wild – if we put recreation up front then the meaning of balance is not really represented
• Bjorn – Jack is correct that the issues with recreation were the prompt of bringing everyone together but then the meaning of balance is important. Maybe not re-writing but adding context such as high-quality outdoor recreation opportunities are interest. Sustainable Recreation use.
• Jeremy – The idea of the GOAL is to define what the meaning of sustainable recreation means in terms of the context
• Randy THPO TEBOE - suggested removing the word work and replace with walking together...
• Jack – Asked what will the end product be? And expressed ideas around a plan for Cultural resource and recreation management, also asked if this would be and overall end product that can be recreation management plan including sustainable, balanced, etc….
  • What is the end product and does the goal meet the end product?
  • Suggestion is: high quality, sustainable and balanced recreation
• Tom Mitchell - Ensure high quality recreation at no unreasonable expense to other important uses and values: cultural resources, grazing, biodiversity.
• Attila - Goal of Collaborative might need to focus on Recreation with the understanding that nothing moves forward without protection of natural and cultural resources
• Chris Toya – There are over 8,000 documented archeological sites in the Jemez. All resources used in the tribal nations to keep petitions going into the future. Not fully documented are petroglyphs and pictographs in the mesas. There are many, many archeological sites not being documented. Reasons for FS and Tribes to be involved in the collaborative is to protect the sites. Chris was very clear that the reason for tribal participation is not only for recreation. The experience has been that through recreation, many sites have been destroyed without the proper management. Coming from Pueblo, cultural and natural resources, must be protected. Having recreation out in the landscape does not benefit it the cultural landscape, this being the reason why representation of Pueblos are here.
  • Agreement with statement – For protection and conservation due to recreation that is proposed in the Jemez Ranger District.
• Randy THPO TEBOE – Goal here is to benefit, not lean on just protection or recreation because the idea is to BENEFIT out of the land. Come together to collaborate. Every focus is important. What makes this a special place is the cultural resources, which made this site and gave opportunities for outdoor recreation.
• Le’alani – word BALANCE has come up many times… do people agree with that word?
• Bjorn - Recreation is occurring on land either we want it or not, the proposal is really to try to better manage recreation that is occurring, not to impact the existing resources. Not to promote new or more recreation but to address the lack of management.
• Randy – Why and what is the purpose of managing the land? Asking this question will help nail the goal of this
• Bjorn – the impact on the cultural landscape are a problem. FS has legal obligation to allow recreation use, if there are no quality opportunities, the intentions of management will fail. The acute problem right now is the resource effects.
• Randy – Recreation will happen and happens everywhere. The resources are being destroyed, so it is important to manage the balance.
• Le’alani - Idea have a small group representing a diversity of interests work towards a goal statement proposal for the Collaborative to review at next meeting
• Chris Toya – Recreation is not going to go away, something planned for the future. There are other communities that are growing around, when talking about better management. Working together to better manage the land and resources through balanced…. (this statement and previous can be revisited by small group)

Opportunities & Parameters of the Collaborative and its Work (Bjorn)

• FS wants to stay true to provide seats at the table, create a shared goal, honor recommendations, partnerships, and shared decisions.
• There are requirements around funding and legal requirements where members play an important role

• Recreation Planning needs are attached to GAOA funding, situation assessment associated around education, stewardship, and priorities.
• Funding has some legal requirements related to NEPA, depending on the scale of the project. Ex: Clean up event will not require NEPA, if there is a change on map for motorized use, that would require compliance with Historic Preservation Act and other laws.
• Understanding of various processes and roles of members from a clean-up day to planning to changes on the landscape. It is important to see concerns and opportunities. Idea is to circle opportunities.

Projects, Programs, and Promotions (Attila)

• What does the collaborative want to pursue in the next few years?  Think beyond a physical project: promotion, policy, shared responsibilities to manage recreational use.
• Participants brainstormed ideas:
  • Outdoor Recreation
  • Stewardship
  • Cultural Resources Protecting Ancestral Lands
  • Collaboration/Partnership
  • Structure
  • Other

Working Groups (Attila)

• Reviewed focus areas for Working Groups generated at the last meeting (see list in table below)
• Working Group commitment:
• Participants signed up for Working Groups:
• NM Wild - Should History and Culture be merged as a guiding principal of all these groups?
• Jack Dickey – working groups cover all the basis of the collaborative

Polls

Next Steps

• Facilitators will invite other participants to sign up for working groups
• Le’alani will reach out to each Working Group and help those that volunteered to schedule a time to meet to discuss their charge, types of projects, assigning a chair.
• Next full collaborative meeting in Late February
  • Reporting out on working groups, reconvene before losing energy
• Spring Site Visit
  • Idea: Come together as a large group and break off

One Word Reflection

• At the end of the meeting, participants were asked to say one word that describes how they’re feeling about the Collaborative or the project: Hopeful, Hopeful, Intrigued, Anticipation, Encouraged, Impressed, Positive, Enthused, Productivity, Progress, Confused but Optimistic, Excited, Optimistic & Hopeful, Alignment, Late & Appreciative, Excited/Enthusiastic, Encouraged, Momentum & Respectful, Optimistic, Encouraged, Challenging, Energized,

Ended meeting with 22 participants