One of the things I enjoy most about living in Rio Arriba County is my backyard. The badlands that border the western side of Chimayó run right up to my landlord’s property giving me access to hundreds of acres of public land.
The hills, arroyos and barrancas make the area look like the set of an old western, which is appropriate considering it was the Old West. I have been told a dirt track near my home once functioned as a wagon trail to and from Truchas and also as a pathway for marauding Comanches who attacked Spanish settlers during colonial times.
The area is now used mostly for recreation. Paths, wide enough for trucks in some parts, cut in all directions taking hikers, bikers and ATV drivers up and over hills and through a landscape that is home to coyotes, a multitude of birds and jackrabbits.
The flora is typical of the Española Valley with juniper trees, multiple varieties of cactus, endless rows of chamisas and the occasional piñon living side by side.
There is only one problem with the whole setup. You are just as likely to pass a pile of trash as you are to spot a hawk or a bed of wildflowers.
The arroyos and crevices that border some of the paths are filled with debris of all types, sizes and shapes. One of the worst areas is a dam off of Rio Arriba County Road 87 that can be accessed by a dirt road. I have seen tires, an old paddle boat, enough sofas to furnish a home and what appeared to be a llama’s head among the dozens of piles of trash that mark the area.
The federal Bureau of Land Management is responsible for overseeing this whole swath of public land that stretches for dozens of miles north to Velarde and beyond. This agency’s hands-off approach to its holdings in the Valley provides a certain freedom that unfortunately has been abused by those who treat the area like an open dump.
The Bureau hasn’t bothered to clean up the area in the five years I have lived there, but the agency has offered to help with a community cleanup being organized by the Rio Grande SUN.
Bureau engineer Herbert Chavez met me May 20 to identify two areas of Bureau land near El Rincon de Los Trujillos that would be appropriate for a half-day cleanup.
Chavez said a Bureau employee will check the targeted areas in June for any hazardous materials and identify piles that the Bureau will dispose of before the event. The North Central Solid Waste Authority has also agreed to offer a helping hand by providing dumpsters for the effort as along as we meet certain requirements.
The community cleanup is scheduled for Sunday, July 11, from 9:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. Participants should meet at 9 a.m. at a yet-to-be determined location in Chimayó. Volunteers should bring shovels and gloves and wear work clothes.
We need 30 to 40 pairs of helping hands to get the job done, so any individuals or community groups interested in volunteering should contact News Editor Kevin Bersett at 753-2126 or rgsun@cybermesa.com. Lunch and refreshments will be provided after the event.
In the run-up to the cleanup we plan to run a series of articles on the history of the area in the hope of showing would-be dumpers that not only are they tarnishing the landscape today but their own heritage.
The Rio Grande SUN plans to make the cleanup an annual affair. We hope to tackle a different area of public land a year, clean it up and write stories illuminating its history. Maybe next year we can help clean up your backyard.
This story required a correction: The date of the cleanup is July 11, not June 10 as originally stated in this story.