Eastern Sandoval Citizens Association (ESCA)
Signpost article, July 2021 Edition
Eastern Sandoval Citizens Association (ESCA) Report
By Jean Roberts, ESCA Board of Directors
ESCA congratulates Melanie Stansbury, who will represent Congressional District 1 in the US House of Representatives. She won the seat in the June 1 special election, replacing Deb Haaland, who is our nation’s new Secretary of the Interior.
ESCA board members plan to meet with Representative Stansbury to request that she reintroduce the Buffalo Tract Protection Act for consideration during the current session of the House. Senator Martin Heinrich has already reintroduced the bill in the Senate. The goal of the legislation is to prohibit gravel mining in the Buffalo Tract, which is immediately adjacent to the northern border of Placitas neighborhoods.
The tract is part of the Bureau of Land Management’s Rio Puerco Resource Management Plan (RMP). The long-awaited RMP remains in draft form. The Buffalo Tract Protection Act would provide the necessary legislation to protect the area from gravel mining.
In other news, the ESCA board plans to contact the membership to request approval of the board’s recent decision to revise our bylaws and articles of incorporation. The revision would provide the board with the flexibility to support charities within the ESCA corporation area that need extra help for special purposes, consistent with our mission to maintain our quality of life in our community. Any donation would require the unanimous support of all board members.
ESCA’s corporation area is from I-25—including Algodones—to the eastern border of Sandoval County. A ballot will be sent to each ESCA member for their vote.