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Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham vetoed on Friday, April11, HB 219, which would have established a new state park in Doña Ana County.
The bill, sponsored by state Sen. Jeff Steinborn, D-Las Cruces, would have established Slot Canyon Riverlands State Park as a 783-acre park bordering the Organ Mountains Desert Peaks National Monument. The bill had strong bipartisan support, Steinborn previously told the Bulletin. State Reps. Nathan Small and Joanne Ferrary, both Democrats from Las Cruces, also co-sponsored the bill.
The Legislation would have provided around $9 million in funding to the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department to create the state park.
The governor vetoed the bill saying New Mexico’s state parks are “already woefully understaffed and undermaintained.”
“The lack of park rangers in our existing parks is already a matter of great concern. Adding another state park will only spread already stretched resources even further. Although capital outlay funds were allocated to this endeavor, developing projects and spending the money within the specified time frame will require additional unfunded staff support.”
Proponents of the state park expressed disappointment. Àngel Peña, executive director of the Nuestra Tierra Conservation Project, said that this is a time when national public lands are in jeopardy.
“State parks and public lands offer New Mexico families the opportunity to enjoy outdoor spaces at low or no cost, and it’s a shame the governor chose to block this new park that our community advocated so hard for,” Peña said.
Patrick Nolan, executive director of Friends of Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks, called the veto “disappointing.”
Nolan said a 2024 feasibility study recommended that the area be developed either as a day-use park or as a recreation area associated with Leasburg Dam State Park and would have improved river access and helped river conservation.
Turning the land into a state park would have also addressed a long-standing issue, according to Nolan. The state purchased the land in 2008 using federal Land & Water Conservation Fund dollars and are mandated to be managed for public access but this has not happened. HB 219 would have addressed that, Nolan said.
