Madrid Open Space Management: Site Reconnaissance & Rapid Assessment

Santa Fe County Open Space and Trails Program sought professional services to develop a management plan for the Madrid Open Space, within the village of Madrid. The purpose of the project was to create a strategic management plan in accordance with the vision for the open space. The management plan evaluated the existing conditions and  resources, established maintenance priorities and processes, identified needed capital improvements and set the management framework that will allow access by the public while preserving the cultural and environmental resources of the open space property.

As the recipient of most of the community’s stormwater, the ephemeral wash within the Madrid Open Space is a central component of this plan. OEE, River Source, & Ecotone spent a day conducting a walk-through and rapid assessment of the entire project area, including stream, riparian, and upland zones, in order to discuss and to identify issues, concerns, and opportunities related to drainage, erosion, mine gob piles management, and overall site stability. This site reconnaissance allowed the restoration team to get a read of the landscape and ground-truth pre-planning site interpretations of the hydrology and landforms. The team collected pertinent data in areas of concern and developed a conceptual maintenance plan that outlined short term and long term needs. In addition OEE researched potential permitting requirements for these maintenance activities and developed a draft RFQ and order of magnitude costs for designing and implementing work outlined in the maintenance plans.