A coalition of green groups sued federal agencies this week over alleged mismanagement of the 2,700-mile Old Spanish National Historic Trail.
The groups slammed the Interior Department, National Park Service and Bureau of Land Management for being years overdue in developing a comprehensive management plan for the historic American Southwest trail, which meanders from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to Los Angeles.
The trail was designated by Congress in 2002 and, under the National Trails System Act, should have received a comprehensive management plan within two years, but one has never been released.
Without a plan, agencies have been making “ad-hoc land management decisions” in the areas around the trail, the lawsuit says, allowing development and oil and gas leasing that plaintiffs argue have sometimes ignored the existence of the trail.
