East Mountain Trails & Bikeways Master Plan - Bernalillo County

Chapter I. Introduction
Bernalillo County Parks & Recreation
Department and Public Works Division initiated
the preparation of the East Mountain Trails and
Bikeways Master Plan in 2003. The plan is in
response to residential growth in the area, a
recommendation in the East Mountain Area Plan,
and a request by the Greater Albuquerque
Recreational Trails Committee (GARTC), which
has representatives from unincorporated
Bernalillo County.
The intent of the Master Plan is to identify major
trail and bikeway corridors and pivotal links
between those corridors and major public Open
Space areas and civic destinations for walking,
hiking, bicycling, and riding horses. Over the long
term, implementation of the plan will result in a
network of connections between residential
areas, commercial nodes, and public lands
managed by the United States Forest Service,
City of Albuquerque and Bernalillo County. The
plan attempts to accommodate all user groups
within the proposed system, although not on
every trail.
Rights-of-way for County-maintained roads,
state-maintained routes, or utility easements are
expected to be locations for some trail corridors.
Drainage easements and some private roads
may offer other possibilities. Finally, in some
instances, private lands may be the only route for
key links. Potential links were analyzed to
determine the viability of securing public access
through land purchase, easement acquisition, or
other creative means.
Adoption of the East Mountain Trails and
Bikeways Master Plan will assist Bernalillo
County staff, developers, and neighborhoods in
the subdivision design, review, and approval
processes. The Master Plan will also be helpful in
securing future state and federal funds for trail
development and construction, and in prioritizing
“Five Percent Set-Aside” funds dedicated to
County trail and bikeway development per
Bernalillo County Code 2-241.
Section A. Background and Context
The East Mountain Area is a predominantly rural
collection of communities on the eastern side of
the Sandia and Manzanita Mountains in eastern
Bernalillo County. The mountains form the
western boundary of the area’s 316 square miles
of piñon-juniper foothills and grasslands, except
for a wide swath that cuts through Tijeras
Canyon along I-40 until it reaches the
Albuquerque City limits on the west. The area is
also bounded on the west by Kirtland Air Force
Base. To the east, the area extends to the Santa
Fe County and Torrance County lines just east of
NM 217 (Mountain Valley Road). Its border to the
north is Sandoval County and to the south is the
Chilili Land Grant and Isleta Pueblo.
Historically, Native Americans and Spanish
settlers traveled through Tijeras Canyon to reach
timber forests and hunting and trading areas.
Their historic villages were San Antonio, the early
population and religious center of the Cañon de
Carnuel Land Grant, Carnuel, Tijeras, Cañoncito,
San Antonito, Sedillo, Chilili, Escabosa, and Juan
Tomas. Water for some of the communities was
developed from the springs at San Antonio (now
the site of Ojito Open Space), Cole Springs (near
Cañoncito), and La Cienega (near San Antonito).
Other communities engaged in dryland farming.
(EMAP 1992.)
The area later developed with seasonal homes
and cabins for city residents seeking relief from
the seasonal heat and for tuberculosis patients
seeking cures in the cold, dry climate. Over time,
the East Mountain Area has primarily grown into
an expanding bedroom community for people
who work in Albuquerque and even Santa Fe,
with average lot sizes of two acres or more.
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