The PEER media release and complaint are below. We thank PEER for their efforts, and The Coalition to Protect America's National Parks fo their subject matter expertise.

Lawsuit to Safeguard Old Spanish National Historic Trail

Multiple Encroachments Doom Old Spanish Trail to Death of Thousand Cuts

Washington, DC —The Old Spanish National Historic Trail is under eco-assault and has been denied the legal protections it deserves, according to a federal lawsuit filed today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Due to the lack of a statutorily required comprehensive management plan, the trail and its unique vistas have been compromised by more than a score of various development projects, with many more in the offing.

Congress designated the Old Spanish National Historic Trail by statute in 2002. The National Trails System unit spans 2,700 miles and crosses through wild and scenic country in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. With Native American historical roots, the trail was used by New Mexican and American traders and settlers between Santa Fe and Los Angeles under Mexican rule from 1829 to 1848. The trail played a significant role in the Mexican-American War, resulting in the American conquest and annexation of the present-day Southwest.

The National Trails System Act requires that within two fiscal years of designation, the Interior Secretary must submit to Congress a comprehensive plan for the management and use of the trail. This plan serves as a guiding framework within which agencies must operate so the land is appropriately protected.

The lack of a plan is largely the outcome of bureaucratic politics since the Interior Department assigned the plan jointly to two separate agencies, the National Park Service (NPS) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which could not agree on the plan’s basic elements, such as the width of the right-of-way, corridor management, and protections surrounding the trail.

The lack of a plan is largely the outcome of bureaucratic politics since the Interior Department assigned the plan jointly to two separate agencies, the National Park Service (NPS) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which could not agree on the plan’s basic elements, such as the width of the right-of-way, corridor management, and protections surrounding the trail.

“The Old Spanish Trail is a national treasure that deserves the same protections as our other scenic and historic trails,” declared PEER Staff Counsel Laura Dumais, who filed suit today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against the Department of the Interior, its Secretary, the NPS, and the BLM seeking a court order compelling the long overdue promulgation of a comprehensive plan for the Old Spanish Trail and establishment of a statutorily required right-of-way.

Its tremendous length traversing a checkerboard of federal, state, and private lands leaves the Old Spanish Trail vulnerable to numerous conflicts with energy projects, mining, off-road vehicles – and impairments of its viewshed and soundscape. Over the past ten years, there have been at least 38 separate projects on federal lands or under federal control, with detrimental impacts on the trail, including, most recently, in Colorado. The BLM plan invites oil and gas drilling applications within 50 meters of the trail. In southern Nevada, a large and pristine section of the Trail was obliterated.

“Each one of these projects chips away at the trail’s integrity, cumulatively eroding its landscape, historical, cultural, and natural tapestry, and intended public recreational opportunities,” stated Rocky Mountain PEER Director Chandra Rosenthal, noting that the superlative landscapes of the Rocky Mountains, Colorado Plateau, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert are at the heart of major development disputes. “The combination of all these projects threatens to degrade these vistas into a patchwork of industrial scars, irreversibly diminishing the trail’s unique value.”

The plaintiff group is made up of nonprofits PEER, the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks, and Basin and Range Watch, as well as long-time Old Spanish Trail advocates John Hiscock and Mark Franklin.

“The Bureau of Land Management is moving forward with five large-scale solar projects in the Pahrump Valley, Nevada, that would compromise the viewshed of the Old Spanish National Historic Trail,” said Kevin Emmerich, Co-Founder of Basin and Range Watch. “Because there is no comprehensive management plan for the trail, the BLM has a default excuse to accommodate the wishes of each solar developer over taking action to protect the trail and associated viewshed for future generations.”

“The Old Spanish Trail is more than a relic of the past; it is a bridge to our shared history and a source of inspiration and recreation for future generations,” commented plaintiff John Hiscock, a former NPS Manager. “Protecting the Old Spanish Trail is not just a local concern, but a national imperative.”

“Our national parks and public lands – including the Old Spanish Trail – safeguard irreplaceable natural and cultural resources,” said Russell Galipeau, former NPS Superintendent and member of the Executive Council of the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks. “To disregard the critical need to ensure the protection of the Old Spanish Trail not only disrespects the public trust, it places the resources, stories, and vistas of the Trail at risk.”

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https://peer.org/lawsuit-to-safeguard-old-spanish-national-historic-trail/

See the PEER lawsuit: https://peer.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/2024.12.09_Old-Spanish-Trail-complaint-as-filed.pdf

In order to preserve the viewshed and historic desert character of other portions of the trail, Basin and Range Watch and Old Spanish Trail Association nominated an Area of Critical Environmental Concern in south Pahrump Valley, Nevada, as an alternative to solar project development there.