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← Mission 29 · Truchas to Costilla headwaters
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Mission 29 · Carson National Forest, NM

Truchas to Costilla headwaters

Carson National Forest

The agency files it as “Truchas to Upper Costilla Headwaters Active Management Project”

Timing

The agency stopped taking comments on October 8. What you find still counts: it backs the formal objections from people who did comment, it goes to the lawyers on the fight, and it is the story.

The sentence we think is wrong

“A recreation opportunity spectrum classification has never been assigned in the Miranda Canyon acquisition and no recreation opportunity objectives for this area currently exist.”

The agency wrote that in its own document, under Recreation Effects Addressed. Nobody has been out to check it. A dated photograph either backs it up or ends it.

How you settle it

Walk into the Miranda Canyon lands south of Taos and record how people actually get around and use it: any drivable two-track, gates, fire rings, camp spots, foot or horse trails. Photos showing whether vehicles can and do travel into Miranda Canyon, or only foot and horse use with no drivable road.

The decision

The Forest Service is proposing vegetation and fuel reduction treatments on up to 104,822 acres and prescribed fire treatments on up to 382,874 non-wilderness acres on the Camino Real and Questa Ranger Districts of Carson National Forest. The project also covers forest products, road management, and watershed management. Written comments are being accepted on the proposal.

Read the whole thing, and write to the agency about it

How to record it so it counts

  1. 01Photograph the trailhead or access point with the vehicles in it. Count them and note the time and day.
  2. 02Photograph the pull-off camp spots outside any campground, the fire rings, and the worn paths that show people come here.
  3. 03Sit for a fixed time and count people passing and what they are doing.
  4. 04Write down what you know about how this place gets used across a year.
What would count
  • A vehicle count with the day and time. Weekends and weekdays both, if you can.
  • Fire rings and sites the document says aren’t there.
All of it, with the phone settings, in the field guide
Are you going?

Say yes or no. It tells the next person whether anyone has this ground covered, and it is the only way we know a request was answered rather than just read. You can change your mind any time, and nobody follows up.

Join, then say you’re going

Nobody has answered yet

Before you go
  1. Public land only. Plenty of land inside a national forest or park boundary is privately owned, and that is not yours to walk on. A gate or a closure sign means stop. Check the rules for the specific place you are going, because they differ.
  2. Don’t touch survey stakes, flagging, equipment or anything a crew left. Photograph it; leave it.
  3. Don’t approach crews, contractors or agency staff about the project. Don’t interfere with any operation.
  4. Wildlife at a distance. No drones in wilderness or anywhere they’re prohibited. Stay off closed roads and trails.
  5. If you’re not sure, don’t. Weather, terrain, water, fire and people are your call, and yours alone.

More Than Just Parks doesn’t direct where you go or what you do. Terms.