On the Mescalero Apache reservation, 17-year-old tribal member Leerae Lester spends his days riding mountain bikes and learning how to repair them. He’s been able to follow his passion thanks to Sugar Hill Pathways, a local nonprofit supported by the state’s Outdoor Equity Fund.
Lester and other young people he met through the nonprofit hope to open a bike repair shop in their southern New Mexico community one day and guide tourists on rides through the land, he told lawmakers on the interim Water and Natural Resources Committee on Tuesday.
Starting that business would “allow us to stay connected to home instead of feeling like we have to leave Mescalero to find opportunities,” Lester said.
Supporters of the Outdoor Equity Fund — created by the Legislature in 2019 to get low-income youth involved in outdoor recreation — showed up for the committee’s hearing in Santa Fe to push for more money. They want state lawmakers to set aside $10 million a year, about double what the fund had this year.
In the last fiscal year, which ended June 30, project applications went up by 141%, and 48% of requests didn’t get funding, Evan Pilling, grants coordinator for the state Outdoor Recreation Division, told lawmakers.
Since the Legislature created the fund, it’s issued about $12.8 million to projects across the state, according to the division. Grant recipients have included 241 tribal and rural organizations, Pilling said.
Ancestral Lands Conservation Corps, for instance, has received $80,000 since 2023. That’s helped support hiking clubs and traditional farming programs in Acoma, Isleta and Zuni pueblos, executive director Chas Robles said.
“For our participants, these experiences are about more than visiting a beautiful place,” he said. “They can mean connecting with landscapes they know through stories, songs and prayers and learning about places where their ancestors lived and cared for the land.”
The organization’s goal, Robles said, is to build a conservation workforce, and they see time spent outdoors as a starting point. To facilitate that, they give kids gear, transportation and training they likely wouldn’t otherwise have access to.
New Mexicans who started out in youth hiking clubs years ago have gone on to join the nonprofit’s staff, he said, along with federal, state and local land management agencies.
