Comments closed September 8
Stop the sale of 20 public acres in Socorro County, New Mexico
Bureau of Land Management · Socorro County public lands, New Mexico, NM
- What
- BLM proposes to sell 20 acres of public land in Socorro County to the county government for a detention pond.
- Where
- Socorro County public lands, New Mexico, NM
- How much
- Twenty acres of public land roughly 10 miles south of the City of Socorro are at risk of permanent transfer out of federal ownership.
- Decided
- Comments closed September 8, 2026. No decision document is on file yet.Date from Federal Register ↗, read July 25, 2026.
Where these four lines come from
- WhatOur plain-English read of the Federal Register 2026-14887 ↗. Check it against the agency’s own words under Case.
- WhereThe places and states the notice names, as PLAN read them.
- How muchThe first sentence of our What’s at risk read of the notice; the whole read is under Case.
- DecidedSeptember 8, 2026, from Federal Register, the document’s comment close date (federalregister.gov) ↗. Read July 25, 2026. The decision document is the one on file in PLAN’s record.
- Read from PLAN’s record November 9, 2026.
Gera A. Ashton
Acting State Director, BLM New Mexico
A person signed this, not an agency. The window has closed and the signature stands, which is exactly when accountability matters.
Acting State Director. Published by the agency against their own name.
Where the agency publishes this →Write it in your own words. A hundred identical emails get filed as one; a hundred different ones get read.
New Mexico State Office
Gera A. Ashton signed this decision and heads the office that would have to withdraw it.
New Mexico State Office on blm.gov →Short is better. You are asking State Director Ashton to answer for a decision their office made.
My name is [your name] and I'm calling from [your city and state]. Gera A. Ashton, Acting State Director, BLM New Mexico, signed the decision on Stop the sale of 20 public acres in Socorro County, New Mexico. I'm asking the New Mexico State Office to withdraw that decision and require full environmental review before anything proceeds. Please record that I called and tell me what the office intends to do.
Official channels only, about this decision. No personal phone numbers, no home addresses, no personal social accounts, and nothing abusive. The point is to make the office answer, and an abusive call is the one thing that lets it off the hook.
What the proposal said, and what the decision did
No figure from the proposal has been checked against the decision on this fight yet. What the record does hold is the issues ledger below.
No decision document is on PLAN’s record for this fight yet. When the agency’s decision lands, what it answered goes here.
Affects public lands
BLM proposes to sell 20 acres of public land in Socorro County to the county government for a detention pond.
What’s at risk
If this goes through
Our plain-English read of the official notice ↗. Check it against the agency’s own words below.
The agency’s own analysis
What the notice says, and what it leaves out
The window has closed; the record of what was missing stays.
The agency says
“The BLM has prepared an EA document, DOI-BLM-NM-A020-2025-0021-RMP-EA, for the RMP amendment and non-competitive direct sale and has made it available for comment.”
The notice announces that an EA has already been prepared and posted for public comment at the same time as the scoping period opens.
The agency says
“The BLM does not intend to hold any public meetings, in-person or virtual, during the public scoping period.”
The notice states that no public meetings are planned, in-person or virtual.
The agency says
“The fair market appraisal value is $27,500 for 10 acres of public land and 10 acres of reversionary interest.”
The notice states the fair market appraisal value for both the 10-acre public land parcel and the 10-acre reversionary interest combined is $27,500, but it provides no basis for that figure and does not state when the appraisal was conducted.
The agency says
“The purpose for the proposed action is to transfer from Federal ownership the small parcel of land that is logistically and economically difficult to manage.”
The Purpose and Need section justifies the sale in part on the ground that the parcel is logistically and economically difficult to manage, citing FLPMA 43 U.S.C.
The agency says
“The scope of this land use planning process does not include addressing the evaluation or designation of areas of critical environmental concern (ACECs).”
The planning criteria list six preliminary issues, including impacts to threatened and endangered species and migratory birds, yet the notice states that ACEC nominations and evaluations are entirely outside the scope of this process.
The agency says
“The conveyance document of reversionary interest would have all other terms and conditions of Patent No. 30-66-0141 to continue to apply to its land involved.”
The notice identifies floodplain impacts as one of six preliminary issues for analysis, but the very purpose of the sale is to enable construction of a flood detention pond on the conveyed land.
The agency says
“The BLM will consult with Tribal Nations on a government-to-government basis in accordance with Executive Order 13175, BLM Manual Section 1780, and other Departmental policies.”
The notice says tribal consultation will occur but frames it as future and conditional, using language such as invitations will be sent prior to consultation meetings and additional opportunities will be provided during the NEPA process.
The agency says
“Land without access from a public road or highway will be conveyed as such, and future access acquisition will be the responsibility of the buyer.”
The notice expressly disclaims any warranty as to access to or from the described public land parcel, and states that land without access from a public road or highway will be conveyed as such.
The agency says
“The No Action Alternative would not amend the 2010 Socorro RMP to allow for the disposal of public land.”
The notice lists only two alternatives: the proposed sale and a no-action alternative that retains federal ownership with no changes.
The agency says
“The BLM will utilize and coordinate the NEPA and land use planning processes for this planning effort to help support compliance with applicable procedural requirements under the Endangered Species Act (16 U.S.C. 1536), and section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act.”
The notice states that section 106 consultation under the National Historic Preservation Act will be coordinated through the NEPA process and notes that cultural resources impacts are one of the six preliminary issues.
In the agency’s own words
In compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended (NEPA), and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, as amended (FLPMA), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) New Mexico State Director intends to prepare a resource management plan (RMP) amendment with an associated environmental assessment (EA) for a non-competitive direct sale of public land in Socorro County, New Mexico. Additionally, the BLM will analyze a non-competitive direct sale of a 10-acre parcel reversionary interest conveyance on a Recreation and Public Purpose (R&PP) patent. By this notice the BLM is announcing t…
The groups on this fight
4 groups predicted likely to care in New Mexico
Predicted likely to care is a guess from the group's sourced work in New Mexico, with no link to this decision. Give straight to them; nothing routes through us.
- Greater Chaco Coalition
Predicted likely to care · a guess
Chaco Culture National Historical Park, New Mexico: The coalition of Diné and Pueblo communities fighting drilling around Chaco.
- New Mexico Wild
Predicted likely to care · a guess
Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument, New Mexico: Led the community campaign for the 2014 designation and executive director Mark Allison spoke at the June 2025 Las Cruces rally against monument reductions and the Senate public land sell-off provisions.
- San Juan Citizens Alliance
Predicted likely to care · a guess
Chaco Culture National Historical Park, New Mexico: The San Juan Basin watchdog on the ground in greater Chaco.
- WildEarth Guardians
Predicted likely to care · a guess
Chaco Culture National Historical Park, New Mexico: Serial litigant over greater Chaco drilling permits.
Every group above is on STAND for Public Lands, with its court record, its filings and who backs it.
Who signs it
Gera A. Ashton
Acting State Director, BLM New Mexico
Where the notice says so
The ground
The window has closed, so there’s no watch to set on it here.
In court on this ground
This fight isn’t bound to a land unit in PLAN’s record yet, so there are no court cases to show for its ground.
Who holds the vote
PLAN’s record doesn’t tie a member of Congress to this fight yet. The scorecard grades the votes and bills that decide public lands; nothing joins a vote or a bill to this decision, so there’s no member to name here without guessing.
See how your members vote ↗Know an open comment period we are missing, or spotted a wrong deadline? .
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