I'm pleased to announce that our 2006 CARTA Symposium will be a combined effort with a group of Camino Real folks who have been holding conferences and meetings along the trail for many years. We have arranged to combine our next CARTA Symposium with the 10th Colloquium on the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro. It will be held in Socorro, New Mexico, the last week of April 2006. Previous colloquia have been held along the trail since the early 1990s. They have alternated locations between the United States and Mexico and have attracted many people who are involved in the development, preservation and promotion of the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro. Our National Park Service and Bureau of Land Management people have worked closely with representatives of Mexico’s INAH (Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historía). We hope that our combined efforts will unite a broad range of us who have been working on various Camino Real projects and develop an even larger audience for our efforts. Organizing a symposium is a major undertaking and our CARTA representatives will need all the help they can get. Please consider volunteering to help out in April, either by joining the committee or by offering to assist at the symposium.
We have secured NPS and BLM funding for another year. CARTA has a $12,000 operating budget for this year to help cover administrative, symposium, publication, and travel costs, as well as general expenses that come up during the year. Additional monies through the BLM and various cost-share projects have also been made available. We have secured additional NPS funding for an administrative assistant to help our new president keep the day-to-day business of CARTA going. This should be a BIG improvement over my primitive administrative methods. We hope that once an assistant has been secured we can streamline some of the paper work, budgeting, translation and promotional tasks.
There is also discussion of a project to inventory and make recommendations about the New Mexico Department of Transportation Camino Real Highway Markers that were erected in the early 1990s. Many of you have reported that these markers are damaged, vandalized, missing, have factual errors, or are in bad locations. If you have any of the thirty-some markers in your area, and you wish to report damage, text, or location problems, please bring it to my attention. I have been in contact with Gary Williams of the El Paso Community Foundation who has begun working on several of these markers that were placed in Texas.
I have received notification of an Army Corps of Engineers project to eradicate salt cedar in the Galisteo Dam and Reservoir area of Santa Fe County. The Corps’ report identifies the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro as being in the general vicinity, but states that no segments of the trail are in the area where the eradication will take place. There may be implications for the trail as drainage and erosion patterns in the area may change. If you wish to examine the report, I will bring copies to the October 1st meeting. Written comments will be accepted until October 11, 2005. CARTA will also be participating in the grand opening celebrations for the International Heritage Center in Socorro this November. Please see the article beginning on page 2 for more details and information. I hope some of our members will consider volunteering at the opening.
I hope to see all of you at the October meeting in Santa Fe. It's been a fun, exciting three years serving as your president and helping to get the association going. I look forward to working with CARTA in the years ahead and helping to promote the longest, oldest and most historic trail in the Americas!
George D. Torok, CARTA President
7348 Golden Hawk Drive
El Paso, Texas 79912-1144
Home phone: 1-915-831-2396
e-mail: georget@epcc.edu
It is El Camino Real International Heritage Center, a 20,000-square-foot structure that suggests the image of a ship in the desert, symbolic of the life-sustaining caravans that for centuries moved livestock, merchandise and culture between Mexico City and San Gabriel in the Española Valley north of Santa Fe.
The Center is a joint project with the United States Bureau of Land Management and supported by El Camino Real International Heritage Center Foundation. It opens as the sixth New Mexico State Monument.
The Heritage Center has timed its opening to coincide with the Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge Annual Festival of the Cranes, a heavily attended event. The two entities will run shuttle buses not only between the refuge and the Center over Highway 1, the Camino Real National Scenic Byway, which connects them, but also between Festival venues from Truth or Consequences to Socorro.
The Heritage Center is located just off Interstate 25 between Socorro and Truth or Consequences at Exit 115. From the east side of Highway 1 (the frontage road), drive south 1.5 miles to the back of the Interstate rest area at Milepost 24, then turn left (east) onto County Road 1598, which leads right to the Center. We invite you to join us.
For more information call 1-505-854-3600 or visit www.caminorealheritage.org or www.nmmonuments.org.