VALENCIA COUNTY, N.M. – Crews are hard at work cleaning up illegal campsites and dumping along the Rio Grande, but officials with the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District (MRGCD) said more work needs to be done.
“The deeper we go into the Bosque, the more stuff we find,” said Eric Zamora, chief operating officer for MRGCD.
The MRGCD has put in almost 300 hours of work over the past two weeks to clean up the Bosque near the Route 66 overpass in Los Lunas after an increase in encampments in Valencia County.
“Overall, we are pleased with the progress we have made, and it’s really making us realize how much work we have left,” said Zamora.
According to the source, they have filled up a trailer more than 15 times with items like sofas, mattresses, tarps, tents, shopping carts, and other trash left over from illegal campsites.
“I don’t know that we are going to be able to do this on our own in a reasonable amount of time. It’s going to take a wider community effort to address the amount of trash that is on the ground,” said Zamora.
The MRGCD has handed out roughly 35 notices for people to move out. They say most people leave once they get the notice, but others stay or come back overnight to sleep.
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“We will have an enhanced presence during the daytime hours to ensure that the efforts we are making today will discourage any future encampments,” Zamora added.
Officials believe this cleanup will make a difference, but they realize they’ll have to stay on top of the problem to minimize campsites popping back up.
They plan to keep doing these cleanups in the coming weeks. “Not making it a space people can hide,” said Zamora.
The MRGCD partners with the Los Lunas Police Department when they go out to clear an encampment. So far, the agency has given notices for people to clear out, but the police department has not issued any citations.