Place:  Gallinas River Park

Location:  Las Vegas, New Mexico

Person interviewed:  Reina Fernandez, Outreach Coordinator for the Hermit’s Peak Watershed Alliance

Land and Water Conservation Fund
Land and Water Conservation Fund

How this site benefits you and your community: The Gallinas River Park is bringing people together and creating a place for recreation and enjoyment for both sides of the town.

Reina Fernandez has brought her family to the River Park often since she moved to the area 6 years ago. Inspired by its beauty, she now works to help expand the river trail further, creating community events to benefit all of Las Vegas as it experiences its own revival.

“We envision Gallinas River being a way to unite the community on both sides of the river.” To that end Fernandez and the Hermit’s Peak Watershed Alliance, which works to restore the watershed, is organizing a music festival and other events to bring attention to this gem in the center of their town. Part of their mission is to restore the waterway, once destroyed by the river’s industrial past, which used the water to ferry supplies via the nearby railroad.

With funding from LWCF among others, Gallinas River Park will continue to develop into a community resource, creating outdoor space for children, runners, dog walkers and families.

“New Mexico is so dry, so it’s amazing to have a river in the center of town,” Fernandez said. As with so many of New Mexico’s parks, she is drawn to open spaces for herself and her children. “There is space to roam and walk, to breathe, read and relax.”

Land and Water Conservation Fund