SNMTA: Community built connections to the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument
Southern New Mexico Trail Alliance (SNMTA) – Las Cruces, NM
Located just 45 minutes from the U.S.-Mexico border, Las Cruces is the second largest city in New Mexico, and home of the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument. Public lands play an important role in the community, and with over 5.4 million acres of land to manage, the Bureau of Land Management’s Las Cruces District Office often turns to trusted organizations, like Southern New Mexico Trail Alliance (SNMTA), to help steward and improve the trail systems.
Formed in 2014 by hikers, trail runners, and mountain bikers passionate about protecting the trails they love, SNMTA was built around the idea that stewardship happens through collaboration. For more than a decade, SNMTA has worked to bring together outdoor enthusiasts, land managers and nonprofit partners and built up a community of passionate volunteers and advocates for public lands.
In 2024, the group identified a need for a new trail to help ease tensions with private landowners and provide a safe connection for trail users to keep nonmotorized traffic from having to use a shoulder along a busy road to connect to other trail systems.
With support from a $38,700 Outdoor Recreation Trails+ Grant, SNMTA worked with the BLM to formalize a plan and set out to construct a two-mile singletrack trail between Tortugas Mountain and Soledad Canyon Road. The project became a true community effort. SNMTA recruited some seventy-five volunteers who poured 878 hours into the project of over the course of two, some even driving up from neighboring El Paso, TX, reinforcing the community buy-in to the project.
Recognizing that trail sustainability depends on long-term stewardship, SNMTA also hosted a professional trail maintenance training for community members and Bureau of Land Management staff. The training equipped participants with practical skills to properly maintain trails and care for the region’s growing outdoor recreation infrastructure for years to come.
The spirit of giving back to the local community extends beyond trail work. SNMTA also hosts the popular annual Sierra Vista Trail Runs, where participants are encouraged to donate shoes, which are then distributed to Mesilla Valley Community of Hope to support underhoused individuals in the Las Cruces community.
Looking ahead, SNMTA is continuing its partnership-driven approach to enhancing recreation opportunities on public lands in Southern New Mexico. Together with a new Trails+ Grant recipient, Foundation for America’s Public Lands, and support for the BLM, SNMTA will help improve signage and access along an 11.5-mile stretch of the Sierra Vista Trail, enhancing the popular trail for New Mexico residents and visitors alike.
