U.S. Agencies Accept Input in Management Plan for Spanish Trail

By Sun Advocate

The United States Bureau of Land Management and park service are seeking public input in developing a management plan for the Old Spanish National Historic Trail.
Designated as part of the National Trails System in 2002, the route crosses six western states – Utah, New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada and California.
The Old Spanish Trail links some of the west’s oldest communities from Santa Fe, N.M., to Los Angeles, Calif.
Twenty-one public meetings are being scheduled along the trail route beginning in New Mexico and southern Colorado, and moving west to Arizona, Nevada, Utah and California through mid-May.
Carbon County residents with an interest in the trail and the route’s history, possibilities for recreation and heritage preservation or resources and opportunities are encouraged to attend one or more of the scoping meetings.
The first of three public meetings in Utah will be conducted April 18 in Moab at the Grant Center, 182 North 500 West, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Additional meetings are slated in Green River on April 19 at the John Wesley Powell River History Museum, 1575 West Main Street, and Cedar City on April 20, at the Crystal Inn Hotel, 1575 West 200 North. The two-hour sessions will start at 5:30 p.m.
On April 17 Colorado will be the site of a public scoping meeting in Grand Junction at the Grand Vista Hotel, 2790 Crossroads Boulevard. The session will start at 5:30 p.m.
The public may submit comments in writing through May 17.
Written comments and email should be addressed to Sarah Schlanger, New Mexico State Office, Bureau of Land Management, P.O. Box 27115, Santa Fe, NM 87502, Sarah Schlanger@blm.gov, or to Aaron Mahr, National Park Service, P.O. Box 728, Santa Fe, NM 87504, aaron_mahr@mps.gov
Some of the more remote sections of the Old Spanish Trail still can be walked, ridden on horseback or bicycle, or followed by wagon or jeep. Other parts of the route are now beneath or alongside some of our busiest highways.
The management plan will describe how the surviving elements of the Old Spanish Trail- the route, the landscape, and the historic places- will be developed to preserve trail resources, provide access to trail sites, and tell the story of the trail and its role in American history.