Twenty-one New Mexico Trout members turned out on Saturday morning, April 9, 2016 for our annual trash cleanup along FR 376 above the Gilman Tunnels. That road parallels the Rio Guadalupe, which is our home water and one of the best brown trout fisheries in New Mexico. FR 376 is also the most heavily traveled of all the roads on the Santa Fe National Forest and it receives about 100,000 visitors in a typical season. Unfortunately, all those visitors leave a lot of trash over the course of a year. Doing these annual cleanups is one way we can express our thanks for the wonderful trout fishing opportunities the Rio Guadalupe affords while we help maintain it in a state that we like to visit
This year New Mexico Trout volunteers picked up 48 large bags of trash, and removed 16 fire rings. In addition, the trash haul included three tires, a pair of leather boots, a huge truck exhaust pipe, and an abandoned 5-gallon porta potty. With the excellent turnout we were able to sweep the entire corridor by noon, which allowed us to break for a club-provided lunch at Porter’s Landing.
The locked gate above the Gilman tunnels was scheduled to be opened on April 15th, so the first visitors, at least, will see a clean corridor without the usual litter. Phyllis Martinez, of the Jemez District, and Cecil Rich, Fisheries Biologist for the Santa Fe National Forest, also participated and both expressed their thanks for our efforts.
Ron Loehman, Conservation Chairman
Photos by Seth Nodelman