An overflow crowd of residents packed a room at the Santa Fe Convention Center Tuesday night to let local and state officials know they want to see more progress to restore and protect Two Mile Pond in Santa Fe County.
City Water Management officials made a presentation to the attendees explaining the actions that have taken place regarding the pond and the Santa Fe River and what possible outcomes may take place in the future. Water Division Director Jesse Roach says they anticipate more study.
But the audience was far more interested in what the city and others are doing to preserve the environmental beauty of the pond and the surrounding area.
It got the attention of the officials in attendance.
City Councilor Mike Garcia says he’s going to start work right away on a resolution that would have the Governing Body direct city staff to take action. He says waiting for staff to determine next steps could have people waiting until next spring, so it’s time for the City Council to act and determine what’s feasible.
“That way we can ultimately work with the appropriate stakeholders which most importantly involves the community to determine what is the fate of Two Mile Pond,” he said. “I think attendance tonight (Tuesday) is overwhelmingly evident folks want it restored and back to the way it was but ultimately we need to come back and see what that would cost, is it worth the investment and make those data driven decisions, not the kind of spur of the moment decisions that have been made recently.”
One issue that will affect any decision is that there is a complexity of land ownership regarding the area in and around Two Mile Pond. The city, the US Forest Service and the Nature Conservancy all own portions of the land that would be involved. Since it also involves the water flow in the Santa Fe River, state engineers are also part of the process.
