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Please join us to celebrate the centennial of the National Park Service by unveiling the plan for a new segment of El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro National Historic Trail, the Oñate Route Retracement Trail project.
WHEN: Saturday, October 22, 2016, at 2 p.m.
WHERE: Dead Dog Trailhead, Old Buckman Road, Santa Fe, NM
Before the program, everyone is invited to hike, bike, or horseback ride a part of the historic route. Various times are planned. For more information contact: Colleen Baker, Santa Fe County Open Space at 505-992-9868 or Tim Rogers Santa Fe Conservation Trust at 505-989-7019. For more information on the events see the following Santa Fe Conservation Trust webpage event information at: http://www.sfct.org/event/nps-centennial-camino-real-trail-celebration-with-guided-hike-and-rides
Following the 2 p.m. ceremony, National Park Service staff will lead a 2.5 mile guided walking tour of the route. Be prepared with appropriate shoes, water, hat, sun screen, and dress for the weather. The hike is an easy to moderate walk over uneven natural terrain since the trail is not yet constructed.
Families welcome! Children can earn a Junior Ranger badge sticker and certificate for the El Camino Real NHT.
On Saturday, October 22, 2016 at 2:00
p.m.—418 years after colonist Juan de Oñate settled the “Kingdom of New
Mexico”—a celebration will take place to announce a new retracement segment of
El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro National Historic Trail. The trail follows a
mostly forgotten original route taken by Oñate’s caravan in 1598. Oñate was sent
north from Mexico City to extend Spain’s reach into the New World and to establish
a provincial capital, which he did at Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo, later renamed San
Juan de los Caballeros Pueblo. We will also celebrate El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro
National Historic Trail’s 15th anniversary (the trail was designated
by Congress on October 13, 2001) and the National Park Service centennial.
The new trail project involves the
development of a public nonmotorized trail near Old Buckman Road (CR 77)—Oñate’s
original route—and the creation of a multi-use trail along CR 62 and Caja del
Rio Road. The new trail will link the oldest segment of El Camino Real by following
Buckman Road to the existing Santa Fe River Greenway Trail (also a segment of the
national historic trail), then continuing to the Santa Fe Plaza, established as
the new capital after it was moved from San Juan Pueblo in 1609. The new trail
project will begin at the existing El Camino Real trailhead and end at the BLM Diablo
Canyon trailhead, a distance of 14.7 miles. The project will eventually connect
to the historic plaza, offering nearly 30 miles of trails.
The project will allow the public to
follow in the footsteps of history—a vicarious experience through the nearly
unchanged, historic landscape—and to increase access to federal lands between
downtown Santa Fe and recreation areas west of Santa Fe on the Caja del Rio
Plateau. The project will improve the safety of pedestrian, bicycle, and
equestrian access to lands managed by BLM and USFS and to the Santa Fe
Municipal Recreation Complex on Caja del Rio Road.
The project will include the construction
of the historic retracement trail, parking areas at two trailheads, trail and
road signing, and interpretive exhibits. When completed, this will be the
longest stretch of publicly accessible, nonmotorized El Camino Real de Tierra
Adentro National Historic Trail currently in existence.
This project is a partnership of the
Federal Highway Administrations (FHWA) Federal Lands Access Program (FLAP),
Santa Fe County, Bureau of Land Management (BLM), US Forest Service (USFS),
National Park Service (NPS), and City of Santa Fe. The majority of the project
funding comes from FHWA FLAP money totaling $3.7 million. Additional matching
funds were provided from Santa Fe
County, the City of Santa Fe, and the NPS Connect Trails to Parks funds.
Invited guests and speakers include local,
state, and federal elected officials, agency representatives from the National
Park Service, FHWA Central Federal Lands Highway Division, Bureau of Land
Management, and the US Forest Service.
El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro connected
Mexico City to the historic capital of San Juan Pueblo (Ohkay Owingeh), a
distance of 1,800 miles. The 400-mile portion of national historic trail in the
US is unique within the National Trails System (scenic or historic trails) not
only because of its designation as a national historic trail, but because it is
also the only national trail inscribed by UNESCO in 2010 for its portion in
Mexico as a World Heritage Route. Only a handful of historic routes in the
world have been listed by UNESCO with such importance to the patrimony of all
of humanity.
For more information on El Camino Real
de Tierra Adentro National Historic Trail and its UNESCO World Heritage
designation visit:
www.nps.gov/elca
http://www.blm.gov/nm/st/en/prog/recreation/el_camino_real_de.html
Camino Real de Tierra Adentro -
UNESCO World Heritage Centre
For additional project information
visit:
http://www.santafecountynm.gov/media/files/ElCaminoTrail_FINALScopingLetter_8Feb2016.pdf
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