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Santa Fe County adopts 2025 open‑space work plan; COLPAC recommends Bobcat Crossing Ranch for preservation
Summary
The board adopted the county's Open Space, Trails and Parks 2025 work plan and heard COLPAC's recommendation to pursue acquisition of the 2,650‑acre Bobcat Crossing Ranch; staff said acquisition would be considered in the FY2026 budget cycle and that cultural resources would require specialized management.
The Santa Fe County Board of County Commissioners on Feb. 25 adopted the county's 2025 Open Space, Trails and Parks work plan and received a separate presentation from the county advisory committee (COLPAC) recommending acquisition of Bobcat Crossing Ranch for open space. The board did not take acquisition action but staff said any purchase would come to the board as a capital request in the FY2026 budget process.
COLPAC presented the work plan as the annual, living update required by the county's adopted strategic management plan. Adeline Murphy, the county's open‑space planner, told commissioners the work plan groups projects into four categories — resource management, education and stewardship, project development and implementation, and planning and program development — and reflects COLPAC priorities set in quarterly meetings.
On the same topic, COLPAC members recommended that the county consider acquiring Bobcat Crossing Ranch, a roughly 2,650‑acre parcel north of Eldorado and south of Seton Village. In the COLPAC application staff circulated, the landowner (Rancho Viejo Partnership) was identified as having agreed to sell the parcel at a stated fair‑market price described in the application materials. COLPAC's written recommendation to the board said the ranch is the largest undeveloped tract between Santa Fe and Eldorado, contains confirmed and potentially expansive archaeological resources (including a site previously recorded and described by early excavators), and offers trail connectivity to the Santa Fe Rail Trail and the Galisteo Basin.
COLPAC recommended that if the county moves forward staff seek a third party with cultural‑resource management expertise to preserve and manage the identified archaeological site; COLPAC also said recreational infrastructure should be balanced to protect environmental integrity.
Dan Potter, a COLPAC member and retired archaeologist, summarized the archaeological significance: “It was excavated by Nels Nelson … about 300 rooms as Nelson estimated, two‑story Pueblo ruin,” and Potter said modern archaeological methods would be needed to establish site boundaries and management requirements.
Murphy said the COLPAC recommendation was unanimous and that staff would return with a capital request if the board wished to pursue acquisition during the next budget cycle. Commissioners asked about tribal outreach and tour opportunities; staff said limited tribal notification had occurred and that they would organize additional outreach and a site visit if the board directed further work.
Why it matters: The adopted work plan sets the county's conservation, access, and stewardship priorities for the year and will guide staff work and budget requests. COLPAC's Bobcat Crossing Ranch recommendation, if pursued, would be a major acquisition with implications for cultural resource protection, trail connectivity and regional conservation planning.
No acquisition action was taken at this meeting.
