Albuquerque Journal Westside

     Dec 08, 2007

     80 Attend Ditch Design Sessions

     By Carolyn Carlson, Journal Staff Writer

     Safety, privacy and paving are some of the issues under discussion during a
     three-day design workshop looking at the use of North Valley ditchbanks.

     Participants are being asked to envision what a trail along the Griegos Drain from
     Griegos to Chavez Road should look like and to discuss opportunities and
     challenges of the Ditches With Trails North Valley Demonstration Project, and
     develop a conceptual design for the trail.

     Thursday and Fridays sessions garnered about 40 participants each day.

     The workshop continues today from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Shepherd of the Valley
     Presbyterian Church at 1801 Montaño which is east of Rio Grande Boulevard.

     Organizers said they are pleased with the turnout and hope more people would
     attend today's session.

     There are about 300 miles of ditches crisscrossing Bernalillo County, according to
     the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District.

     During opening comments Augusta Meyers, one of three at-large Bernalillo County
     representatives to the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District, welcomed
     attendees.

     "The ditch network is a precious resource that needs protection," Meyers said
     Thursday. "We are not taking a blanket approach to the issue and we are looking
     forward to this dialogue."

     Meyers said the conservancy district will listen to what comes out of the workshop
     and will not support something the adjacent neighborhoods do not want.

     Becky Alter, a Bernalillo County Open Space and Park planner, said the workshop is
     not an effort to create something new and different to what is already there.

     She said not doing anything to preserve the ditchbanks could lead to losing this
     unique resource.

     By Friday's session, several concerns had risen to the top— ditchbank safety for
     users, safety and privacy for the residents living adjacent to the ditchbanks and
     whether the ditchbanks should be paved or not.

     Nolan Bennett, a North Valley resident who rides his bicycle to work when weather
     permits, said he thinks paving is a good idea because it would allow the
     ditchbanks to be used along with the city and county bicycle trails as a
     transportation option.

     Los Ranchos Mayor Larry Abraham said earlier this week the village is not in
     support of paving the ditchbanks.

     Frank Mangano, a resident whose property abuts the Griegos Drain is not in favor
     of the project.

     "Ditches With Trails is not about preserving the ditch trails. Rather, it seeks to
     replace the existing serene, natural ditch trails by creating a commercialized urban
     trail network that spills over into residential neighborhoods," Mangano said Friday.

     Mangano said in a letter he dropped off for organizers Friday that he is speaking
     for members of the Rio Grande Boulevard Neighborhood Association who could not
     be present at the workshop.

     Mangano is not attending the workshop but other members of his neighborhood
     association are attending.

     "After careful consideration of not only the scope of the project, but also the
     process that has led up to its funding and implementation, RGBNA has concluded
     that (Ditches with Trails) will result in substantial adverse impacts on the
     neighborhood as well as the broader ditch-trail system," Mangano's letter said.

     The North Valley Demonstration Trail has received about $850,000 in legislative
     funding from state Sens. Dede Feldman and John Ryan, who represent the North
     Valley.

     The workshop is sponsored by the Ditches with Trails Project and managed by the
     Bernalillo County Parks and Recreation Department.

     The project is a public and private effort to preserve the existing ditch trail system
     and to strengthen its recreational potential. It is a collaboration of the Middle Rio
     Grande Conservancy District, the North Valley Coalition, the Vecinos del Bosque
     Neighborhood Association, the Rivers and Trails Program of the National Park
     Service, city of Albuquerque, Bernalillo County and the village of Los Ranchos de
     Albuquerque.

     In May, Bernalillo County's valley ditch system was named one of a dozen "Most
     Endangered Places" by the New Mexico Heritage Preservation Alliance.

     The Bernalillo County ditches were described by the alliance as dating from the
     18th and 19th centuries, with drains from the 1930s. The ditches, primarily dirt-
     packed, feature narrow rights of way with banks to accommodate single walkers
     or a maintenance vehicle. They host cottonwood trees and other vegetation.