8/31/2023 0 Comments Lace chopper gallery![]() Under five percent of working households can afford the median home price in a county where the largest income bracket is households earning under $15,000 a year, studies have shown. In Taos' tourism-dependent county, known for its blend of Indigenous, Hispano and Anglo cultures, the average price of a condo increased 69 percent since 2019 to $327,000, according to Zillow. Studies by the Headwaters Economics think tank say trails attract new residents and entrepreneurs, boosting public health and tax income, but the influx can lead to less affordable housing and force out long-time residents unless economies diversify. Trail use on public land has as much as tripled since the start of the pandemic, according to Carl Colonius, planner for New Mexico's Outdoor Recreation Division, who pioneered a plan for managing demand on Taos' Talpa foothills. "This community is losing its public access to its own public lands," said Bushnell, 41, who grew up biking on trails built in Bend, Oregon as that city boomed.Īcross the United States, Americans are moving to places with trees and trails, many working remotely. "This is an assault on our watershed," said Arguello, 67, who fears an international mountain-bike destination is in the making, rather than trail proponents' vision of a phased plan to increase community livability over 15-20 years.Īs the sun was rising over Taos Mountain, Bushnell biked near upmarket homes bordering the national forest where owners have built fences and gates in the last two years to block entrance. That left mainly proposals from pro-trails residents on the table. The locals did not want to be seen as advocating any trails because of opposition from their community, he said. The Taos process has split the mountain resort town of 6,600.īucking hay bales off his fields irrigated with foothills water, Arguello said he and other "locals" on the group last month dropped out of the process and withdrew their trail proposals - which had exclusion zones for elk areas and cultural heritage sites. Two bike trail projects have been nixed in as many months on public land in Oregon and Colorado. Opponents say the trails will harm water supply and wildlife, raise wildfire risk and stoke gentrification. That put the neighbors on the frontline of a culture war raging across the West as multi-generational families, conservationists and sometimes conservatives fight trail systems sought by incomers and recreationist locals. Forest Service working group to tackle surging trail demand and disappearing public access to hills studded with piñon and juniper trees after a post-pandemic, "Zoom boom" wave of new residents and second-home-owners. But they are worlds apart on proposals to lace the foothills they love with up to 71 miles of mountain bike and hiking trails. ![]() TALPA, N.M., July 7 (Reuters) - Physiotherapist Spencer Bushnell lives less than a mile from farmer Carlos Arguello in Taos, New Mexico.
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