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Doña Ana County staff to pursue lease, volunteers ask county to protect historic Oregon cemetery
Summary
County staff and volunteers from the Oregon Mountain Veterans Coffee Group described unmarked graves and erosion at the historic Slumbering Mountain (Oregon) Cemetery and asked the Board of County Commissioners to pursue a 99‑year lease or other agreement with the State Land Office and BLM to protect the site. Commissioners signaled support to draft a resolution and keep volunteers involved.
Steven Lopez, assistant county manager, told the Doña Ana County Board of County Commissioners during a work session that the Oregon Cemetery—identified on‑site by a sign as "Slumbering Mountain Cemetery"—sits on state land for which there is no active maintenance and that local volunteers have cared for the site for about a decade.
Lopez said the site was set aside in the 1880s and lies partly on State Land Office trust property; an adjacent Bureau of Land Management parcel also appears to contain unmarked graves. He said early talks with the state land office indicate a county control mechanism would likely be a 99‑year…
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