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CARTA's Projects

CARTA's mission is to facilitate goodwill, cooperation, and understanding among communities, and to promote the education, conservation, and protection of the multicultural and multiethnic history and traditions associated with the living trail, El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro. To further that mission, CARTA is involved with projects along the length of the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, a few of which are described below.

National Historic Trails Award for Boy Scouts

Boy Scout Troop 85 (Kirtland Air Force Base) recently partnered with the Bureau of Land Management and CARTA to undertake a service-learning project on behalf of El Camino Real National Historic Trail. This project and similar on-going endeavors assist us with educating and engaging New Mexico residents and heritage tourists of all ages.

The energetic youths volunteered two nights and three days in the Jornada del Muerto, improving the trailhead accessing one of the most pristine segments of El Camino Real near the Yost Escarpment between Truth or Consequences and Las Cruces, NM. They trimmed desert scrub, widened, graded, and lined with rocks the initial approach to the historic Trail; making the most difficult section accessible to hikers of all ages and capabilities.

Before breaking camp and returning to Albuquerque, they explored a section of El Camino Real, discussed each of the wayside exhibits, and received an on-site history lesson complete with photographs of artifacts recovered in the immediate vicinity and archived at Human Systems Research, Inc. (Las Cruces).

CARTA hopes to continue this program in the future and looks forward to further collaborations. Contact us if your scout troop would like to explore possible projects.

For more pictures of this project, see the album on our Facebook page.

National Inventory of Historic Trails

Ongoing field inventories of trail settings and visual resources along critical segments of El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro in New Mexico continue as part of the Bureau of Land Management’s Historic Trails Inventory project.

The nationwide inventory is funded through the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). CARTA’s federal BLM partner, Sarah Schlanger (Santa Fe), serves as the national lead for this exciting and proactive endeavor. The principal contractor for the New Mexico effort, Statistical Research, Inc. of Albuquerque (SRI-Inc.) serves as a subcontractor for the Denver-based AECOM consulting firm (www.aecom.com), known for providing international architectural, engineering, and environmental expertise.

SRI, Inc. has completed a review of key observation points along El Camino Real, and has coordinated with the research team of John Roney, Mike Marshall, and Tom Merlan, who recently completed a Multiple Properties Nomination Form and individual National Register of Historic Places nominations for eleven significant segments of El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro National Historic Trail. Continuing SRI, Inc. fieldwork will focus on establishing landscape-setting conditions, assessing current trail conditions, and setting up a visual resource inventory for the segments studied by Roney, Marshall, and Merlan on BLM-managed public lands.

Recently, CARTA participated in a one-day preliminary field survey with BLM, NPS, and SRI, Inc. at La Bajada, south of Santa Fe. The intent is to identify those premier sites and landscapes that have the potential for increased public visitation and that therefore require increased protection. This inventory is designed to be proactive; a rare opportunity in a world largely driven by reactions to proposed undertakings. A final version of the draft BLM ARRA Trails Inventory scope of work will be posted to our website once it is released. CARTA members are encouraged to participate in future surveys.

Also as part of the ARRA undertaking, SRI, Inc. will conduct cultural resource inventories, trail condition assessments, and setting inventories for nearly twenty miles of the Old Spanish Trail located on public lands in New Mexico.

Corridor Master Plan

In addition to finalizing our long-range Strategic Plan, our top 2010 priority is for CARTA and our partners to apply for federal 2011 Scenic Byways funding to hire a team of consultants to prepare an El Camino Real Cultural and Heritage Tourism Corridor Master Plan. The Master Plan will include a budget. We will seek funding to implement the master plan. We will need community representatives and letters of support from groups and organizations the full length of El Camino Real, from San Elizario to Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo. We will be posting drafts of the Scenic Byways application later this summer, and our progress to date, so please check in with us! The 2010 grant application is at www.bywaysonline.org/grants.

Diana Molina is working on a Highway 28 Initiative (pdf). CARTA hopes to fold her Highway 28 Initiative into the Cultural and Heritage Tourism Corridor Master Plan. The objects of the Initiative are to (1) Create a Highway 28 Museum and Cultural Center to house an innovative, sustainable approach to economic development by means of a cultural heritage corridor; (2) Provide historic background on the El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro Trail; and (3) Develop Economic Engines to provide long-lasting benefits to the region and border land communities.

Engineers Without Borders

CARTA has been working with the New Mexico State University chapter of Engineers Without Borders on projects along the Camino Real in Mexico. CARTA's first project involved building a bridge in Satevo, Mexico to enable the villagers to cross a stream that floods for several weeks each year. For future projects, CARTA members are encouraged to participate in the planning and implementation by donating tools, materials, time, energy, expertise and/or financial support.

Students working in Satevo, Mexico A full description of the Satevo project can be found in the Chronicles of the Trail.

Survey Project

Funding permitting, we will continue our archaeological surveys with the Bureau of Land Management and Human Systems Research, Inc. in the Jornada del Muerto this Fall. The results of the work already completed will be posted soon.

Working with David Legare, Bureau of Land Management archaeologist, Byron Calkins helped lay out the Jornada del Muerto survey area for CARTA and Human Systems Research, Inc. volunteers as part of his senior project in the Engineering Technology and Surveying Engineering Department at New Mexico State University. Afterward, Byron and Tyler launched their own YouTube dramatic comedy highlighting their Camino Real experience!