Appendix A
Built Environment Case Studies
Location: Southwestern Province,
Jemez Ranger District,
Santa Fe National Forest
Project Type: Developed recreation
facility construction
Year Completed: 1992
Budget: Contractor’s estimate—
$604,417.00
Actual costs (with change
orders)—$640,771.00
1. LOWER JEMEZ RECREATION COMPLEX
Project Team: The core design team consisted
of the Santa Fe National Forest landscape
architect, the facilities engineer, and civil engineer
technicians. The landscape architect directed
and coordinated the project. Other specialists
who provided input and technical assistance
during project planning and design included the
district recreation staff, forest hydrologist,
forest and district archaeologists, and the
district fisheries/wildlife biologist.
As with other recreation projects on the Santa
Fe National Forest, the core design team was
also responsible for contract administration.
This provided continuity between design and
construction phases and ensured that any field
changes were made in keeping with the original
design intent.
Project Description: The Lower Jemez Recreation
Complex consists of a picnic area, a campground,
an information/rest area, and five small parking
areas for fishing access. These sites are
distributed along the Lower Jemez River from
the mouth of San Diego Canyon to just south
of the town of Jemez Springs, New Mexico. The
Forest Service acquired the land from private
landowners in the early 1980’s through Land
and Water Conservation funds.
Mountains and rivers are natural attractors,
and this area is no exception. It is the backyard
playground to a population base of well over
600,000. The Lower Jemez Complex is key to
providing many recreation opportunities along
heavily traveled New Mexico State Highway 4 and
serves as a gateway to the Jemez Mountains.
Large-Scale Planning: Long before Lower Jemez
came into public ownership, access to the river
and related activities were tolerated by the
private owners, which established a pattern of
heavy use. The area features a beautiful and
sensitive riparian zone, endangered species,
and numerous heritage resources. All of these
elements were being severely impacted by
unmanaged and uncontrolled use.
An area-wide recreation opportunity study
conducted during project initiation and planning
highlighted the need for additional camping and
picnicking facilities on the Jemez District.
Providing additional facilities along the Lower
Jemez Corridor, while managing use and
controlling vehicular traffic, would address
recreation demands as well as extend the season
of use. Because the elevation of the corridor is
considerably lower than the rest of the Jemez
Mountains, recreation developments in the area
would allow for early spring and late fall use.
Project Scale Planning/Implementation: One of
the challenges facing the design team was how
to make eight separate recreation sites spread
out over a 6-mile corridor cohere as a single
unit. A strong architectural or design theme was
needed to connect all sites while allowing each
site’s unique characteristics to shine. The most
dominant constructed features in the area are
the homes made of stucco and slump block with
corrugated metal roofs. Rough, craggy textures
and horizontal and vertical layers of red, brown,
and beige define the surrounding dramatic mesas.
The inherent beauty and massiveness of the
natural environment overpower most human
intrusions. Because of this, the recreation
developments needed to complement the natural
features rather than compete for attention.
The landscape architects took the lead in
developing the design theme and worked primarily
with the engineers to ensure the theme translated
to the ground with the structures, road alignment,
and facility layout. The toilet and water treatment
buildings are constructed of split-face block
topped off with chocolate brown metal roofs.
These elements echo the natural color and rich
texture of the vernacular architecture and
landscape. The picnic area and campground carry
this theme further with the block wall/tubular
steel shade structures. Split-face block is also
used in the low walls surrounding the bulletin
boards, trash containers, benches, and fishing
pads at each site. Facilities were located to take
advantage of natural openings and minimize
removal of the scarce riparian vegetation.
Another design element repeated at each site
was the fencing material. A smooth wire fence
runs along most of the corridor between sites to
restrict indiscriminate vehicular traffic. However,
to give a sense of arrival and act as a backdrop
to each site’s entrance sign, a more welcoming
post-and-rail fence defines either side of the
entrance drive to the sites.
Universal design—making the facilities, programs,
and river accessible to all visitors—was an
important design objective from the earliest
planning phases and has been achieved
throughout the complex. All picnic and camp
units, for example, are equipped with accessible
site furnishings, and are easily accessible to
parking, toilet buildings, and drinking water. Most
of the trails have gently rolling grades and are
hardened. Retained, hardened fishing pads have
been provided along trails at the river’s edge.
To ensure that anglers using the fishing pads
would find their time well spent, log structures
(V-dams) were installed adjacent to and
immediately downstream of the pads to create
pools and enhance the fisheries habitat. In
addition, a small rest node, including a bench,
niche for strollers or wheelchairs, and space for
interpretive signing, was located within sight
distance of each fishing pad for nonanglers
accompanying their fishing partners.
The design and location of facilities is also
sensitive to concerns of the Pueblo Indians of
Jemez. An additional parking area, a second
picnic ground, and trail to a petroglyph, included
in the original proposal, were ultimately deleted
after negotiations with the tribe regarding
potential impacts to sacred areas.
Use/Evaluation: Maintenance and repair are
important considerations, especially whenever
developments are provided along a river. The
design team recognized early on that building
facilities in the annual floodplain could be
problematic and require heavy maintenance.
To minimize this to the extent possible, asphalt
was used to surface trails, picnic and camp
units, and the fishing pads.
A post-occupancy review after the first season
of use and the first major flooding revealed that
much of the trails and some of the fishing pads
had washed out. The forest and district
recreation staffs and maintenance crews met
on site to assess the extent of the damage
and determine the best course of action.
Corrective measures taken included placing
boulders downstream of the fishing pads for
protection from the scouring action of flooding
waters and placing substantial amounts of
riprap along trail fill slopes. For the most part,
these measures appear to be working, although
monitoring and addressing the effects of
flooding and the occasional vandalism and
graffiti is a continuous process.
This recreation development has been very well
received and supported by visitors to the area
as well as local residents who appreciate an
increased Forest Service presence. It has also
received regional recognition for its design and
implementation. Lower Jemez Complex represents
one of the best multiple-resource projects on the
Santa Fe National Forest. Although recreation
was the driver behind this project, many other
staffs were actively involved during the planning
and design phases. Close coordination among
the different resources resulted in a project
that continues to meet the needs of the growing
number of recreationists while minimizing
impacts to the natural environment.