Double ditch: MRGCD ditches ditch trail program
A three-year effort aimed at enhancing the pedestrian trail system on irrigation ditches in Albuquerque's north and south valleys died Monday night after supporters of the status quo galvanized opposition that underscored the plan's potential problems.
The Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District board sided with opponents of the Ditches With Trails program and by unanimous vote severed its relationship with the group. Board member Janet Jarratt spoke for many on the board when she said she supported the concept behind the trail program but had strong reservations about a slew of details, including the board's loss of management control over its 300-mile-long network of irrigation ditches in Bernalillo County.
Said board member Jim Roberts of the trail system, "I like it the way it is."
Ditches With Trails was started by North Valley residents who sought to enhance the informal trail system. They enlisted the help of a National Park Service trails planning program and in 2005 won a vote of support by the conservancy district. Since then they have been working on a feasibility study and two pilot projects.
But the feasibility report raised hackles on the conservancy board when it proposed alternative management models for the ditches, including one that would form a regional commission to plan, develop and maintain ditch trails. Several board members said that would create a jurisdictional nightmare and strip the conservancy district of its authority to manage its own irrigation ditches.
Similarly, the feasibility report suggested that some of the larger ditches, such as the Alameda Drain, might eventually get a strip of paved bike path along them. Some opponents of the ditch enhancement plan saw that as the first step toward paving their beloved dirt ditches, and while Ditches With Trails emphatically decried the idea, opponents speaking at the meeting said they still thought it possible.
The board's decision leaves open the possibility of working with Ditches With Trails on individual projects, but supporters of the plan, including state Sen. Dede Feldman, an Albuquerque Democrat, were clearly frustrated by the board's vote. She was among many who asked the board to hold off on a vote and gather more public input.
"The conservancy district has never played well with others, and perhaps this is not unexpected," Feldman said after the vote. In a prepared statement earlier she told the board: "I hope you will consider very carefully the message that a disapproval of this cooperative, multi-community, multi-jurisdictional project would send to the Legislature, to the vast majority of your own ratepayers who do not utilize MRGCD ditches for irrigation, and most importantly to the public. ... Your decision will have grave implications for the future," though she said later that was not meant as a threat, but as a reminder that the district depends on its taxpayers and the Legislature for aid.
Comments:
Posted 07/29/2008 20:36 with
Thanks for the great article!
I was shocked that a the vitriol generated by a small (albeit well-organized) neighborhood association could scuttle a project that so clearly stands to benefit so many people in Albuquerque. We live in a time when we are frantically searching for alternatives to gas-powered transportation, more opportunities for physical recreation, and locally-produced foods. The Conservancy District could have used the acequia system, at the nexus of all these issues, to move Bernalillo County forward. They chose to do the opposite, to block all the neighborhood associations (and the MRCOG), who included the ditches in their plans for bike and pedestrian trails, the educators and land stewards who wish to organize stewardship programs, and the parents and teachers who are looking for safer ways for their kids to walk or bike to school.
The Board clearly had their minds made up before they came to the meeting, and made no effort to control the heckling crowd, who actually boo’ed the woman from Bernalillo County Parks and Recreation, while she was explaining the overrun costs of the bridge. I wonder how many Conservancy District ratepayers who are not irrigators feel about being told that their only benefit from their tax dollars, recreational use of the ditch trails, is STILL not legal, and that as irrigation ceases, ditches will close, and FU if you don’t like it. To me, the Conservancy District is radically shortsighted not to realize that without recreation as a secondary purpose, its own usefulness as an agency is short-lived. As one of those non-irrigating taxpayers, I know I don’t want to support such a backward agency.
Posted 07/30/2008 21:47 with
Unfortunately one very vocal and manipulative person on the North Rio Grande Neighborhood Association led a personal crusade against this wonderful project. The voting members of the Conservancy District obviously made up their minds weeks ago. The member who claimed to have over 300 emails against the plan – produce them or acknowledge your misrepresentation. When an elected officail goes out of the way to procure monies for a project that has large appeal and is then back stabbed by a weak, easily manipulated board it is only going to make it harder for the legislature to send future money “down the pike”. This should not be the last we hear of this terrific project. Let’s get it back on the table. As far as the individual who lied when he said he represented the Neighborhood Association, shame on you.