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There was going to be some resource extraction happening in the area, though. With the new administration, that would probably get canceled, but AFAIK, that hasn't officially happened yet. Chaco is also on Navajo Nation land. The OP wouldn't be able to buy RE just anywhere.
There's already plenty of natural gas extraction going on in that part of the state, though, especially on private, BLM and NM State Land Office land in the "checkerboard country" on the eastern fringes of the Navajo Nation near Highway 550. The pumps are mostly remote-controlled and fairly inobtrusive, but they do hum and make other noises from time to time. Methane flaring may be an issue in NW New Mexico too, but certainly not to the same extent as SE NM, where methane burn-off lights up the night.
Chaco itself is protected and there is a minimal buffer around it, but most archaeologists and native folks view it as inadequate. Since many Navajo people live out there as well and the nature of land ownership in the area means that BLM, state, and private lots alternate with the tribal lands where people are living, the whole thing is an ongoing environmental issue and there has been a lot of activism devoted to ensuring that petrochemical development on and around Navajo country never proliferates to the extent it has in SE NM.
There's already plenty of natural gas extraction going on in that part of the state, though, especially on private, BLM and NM State Land Office land in the "checkerboard country" on the eastern fringes of the Navajo Nation near Highway 550. The pumps are mostly remote-controlled and fairly inobtrusive, but they do hum and make other noises from time to time. Methane flaring may be an issue in NW New Mexico too, but certainly not to the same extent as SE NM, where methane burn-off lights up the night.
Chaco itself is protected and there is a minimal buffer around it, but most archaeologists and native folks view it as inadequate. Since many Navajo people live out there as well and the nature of land ownership in the area means that BLM, state, and private lots alternate with the tribal lands where people are living, the whole thing is an ongoing environmental issue and there has been a lot of activism devoted to ensuring that petrochemical development on and around Navajo country never proliferates to the extent it has in SE NM.
Good info. You're aware, that the new appointee to head up the Interior Dept. is a pueblo woman activist, right? Should be interesting...
When I say I really mean quiet, like the middle of forest....silence. Maybe it's not possible but what areas in NM would be the closest?
At minimum:
No train noise (or distant and very minimal and none at night)
No nearby active airports
No regular military or other low-flying aircrafts (nothing against the military, just don't want to live under their training routes)
No hearing loud vehicles constantly (e.g. a lot of small towns are big on motorcycles and loud trucks)
No distant humming noise from industry, (industries are also in rural areas).
Also looking at other states too. Anywhere. Feel free to suggest.
Thanks.
I don't care about services, etc. Willing to travel hours for that if necessary or do 100 percent delivery.
I visited the ghost town of Riley, once. Riley is also known as Santa Rita. It has been abandoned since just after WW2.
I believe it may qualify as "quiet".
FWIW, on that trip I ran into an old man who told me he grew up in Riley. He told me the story of how it came to be known as Riley, and how he was drafted for WW2 and how the loss of all the young men caused the town to fail because their muscle was needed to run the town. In return for their service, each of the young men were granted 640 acres (1 square mile) and this man still lived on his. He lived alone except for his cats.
"Riley" was actually name of the man who picked up the mail for Santa Rita. People would send mail to Santa Rita c/o Riley in Magdalena.
It appears that the darkest skies in the state can be found in the northeastern part of the state, the south-central part of the state between Albuquerque, Clovis, and Roswell, and the southwest part of the state in the Gila Wilderness area between I-25 to the east, I-40 to the north, the AZ state line to the west, and Silver City to the south.
The first area is mostly privately-held land (rare for NM) occupied by open plains, ranches, and small, declining farming communities like Roy and Mosquero. The second area is a mix of similar open plains and small mountain ranges between Vaughn and Roswell. Land ownership in the northern part of this area is also probably mostly private, but the southern part includes a lot of Defense Department land at White Sands Missile range. The third area includes the small (tiny) communities of Quemado and Reserve, but otherwise, not much out there at all. Most of this is Forest Service land or otherwise owned by the federal government, but no doubt there are plenty of small ranches and homesteads out there as well.
As for the northwestern part of the state, Chaco is indeed in a dark patch but it's fairly small compared to the others I mentioned, ringed by light in the Farmington area to the N and at the relatively large Navajo communities of Tohatchi and Crownpoint to the S and W. There's also a very bright spot to the north of Chaco along Highway 550 which I assume has to be associated with the fairly extensive oil and gas operations near Lybrook and Counselor.
Let me finish up by putting this in perspective. If you open the link I sent, check out New Mexico and then scroll over to the midwest or east coast. Although some parts of NM are definitely darker than others, and there are places in the US that are darker, overall we still have real, truly dark skies compared to the more populous parts of the country.
Last edited by Cactus Hibs; 02-15-2021 at 02:30 PM..
Thanks for the link!
We had a trip to Big Bend NP, one of the darkest places in the country, scheduled for last year.
Trying to do it this year now, but may need to put it off for another year.
Definitely want to do some stargazing there.
Great link!
Along with the other areas you pointed out, the wild west still exists! Or undiscovered country. I found a ranch for sale for 4.9 million dollars in De Baca county. 12195 +/- Deeded acres, 5777 BLM +/-, 3400 State lease +/- https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...3_M94271-73058
It has a Roswell address, but looking at the land you can see how it would be very possible to live on that land and not even see another vehicle for days, maybe weeks.
I happened to be looking at what is in Hidalgo county yesterday, and found almost nothing, not even roads. Two roads for an area that large? That's amazing. It's like the area has been forgotten. This is the "bootheel" of NM, extreme sw.
I took a look at one "town" along the border called Antelope Wells, and the ONLY people who live there are border control.
So I did a little more digging around, and something smells fishy. There's a non-profit called Animas Malpai Borderlands which encompasses a HUGE portion of the NM "boot". It is half in AZ, and owns a large portion of land also in Mexico. This is supposedly a non-profit and receives grants from the feds, yet at the same time there is something like 100 ranchers living there, all profiting of course. They are supposedly conservationists, but when I hear they are also beef ranchers, I'm not falling for it. Seems this group of people found a way to own a very large piece of NM and AZ and have the government subsidize their dealings. This is some shady dealings when a bunch of ranchers can own a huge area of the corner of a state and get the feds to subsidize their land holdings in the name of "conservation". Regardless of any conservation they may be doing, the bootheel of New Mexico is owned by a very small group of people, and they've cornered the market, pun intended.
Take a look at what this "non-profit" (smirk) owns in AZ and NM, the map on this page does not include the land they also own in Mexico. https://web.archive.org/web/20060503...lpai/gray.html
Great link!
Along with the other areas you pointed out, the wild west still exists! Or undiscovered country. I found a ranch for sale for 4.9 million dollars in De Baca county. 12195 +/- Deeded acres, 5777 BLM +/-, 3400 State lease +/- https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...3_M94271-73058
It has a Roswell address, but looking at the land you can see how it would be very possible to live on that land and not even see another vehicle for days, maybe weeks.
De Baca County has an overall population density of less than 1 person per square mile, and more than half of those people live in Fort Sumner, the county seat. So yeah, I'd imagine it's very possible.
Quote:
I happened to be looking at what is in Hidalgo county yesterday, and found almost nothing, not even roads. Two roads for an area that large? That's amazing. It's like the area has been forgotten. This is the "bootheel" of NM, extreme sw.
I took a look at one "town" along the border called Antelope Wells, and the ONLY people who live there are border control.
So I did a little more digging around, and something smells fishy. There's a non-profit called Animas Malpai Borderlands which encompasses a HUGE portion of the NM "boot". It is half in AZ, and owns a large portion of land also in Mexico. This is supposedly a non-profit and receives grants from the feds, yet at the same time there is something like 100 ranchers living there, all profiting of course. They are supposedly conservationists, but when I hear they are also beef ranchers, I'm not falling for it. Seems this group of people found a way to own a very large piece of NM and AZ and have the government subsidize their dealings. This is some shady dealings when a bunch of ranchers can own a huge area of the corner of a state and get the feds to subsidize their land holdings in the name of "conservation". Regardless of any conservation they may be doing, the bootheel of New Mexico is owned by a very small group of people, and they've cornered the market, pun intended.
Take a look at what this "non-profit" (smirk) owns in AZ and NM, the map on this page does not include the land they also own in Mexico. https://web.archive.org/web/20060503...lpai/gray.html
Conservation-oriented ranching is not *entirely* an oxymoron...there are ranchers, and then there are ranchers. For starters, check these guys out. I know several folks who work or have worked for Quivira Coalition and they are very conscientious, idealistic, hard-working people. A huge amount of acreage in the west is tied up in ranching (obviously), and there are several groups that have realized that until Americans stop eating beef or federal land management priorities do a complete 180 (both far-fetched outcomes in the near term), there is a lot of value in demonstrating that responsible, ecologically conscious land management and economically viable ranching are not mutually exclusive.
Ted Turner, who owns several enormous ranches in the state including the Gray Ranch and Ladder Ranch in the bootheel, has been an enthusiastic supporter of this effort. He has implemented numerous effective conservation measures including the reintroduction of endangered species (he has even offered the Ladder Ranch up to support Mexican wolf reintroduction efforts, but more traditional "ranching" interests eventually shut this program down). From what I understand, there are also tax provisions that make it very beneficial for rangeland to be classified as "ranchland" rather than some other use...running a few head of cattle on otherwise empty land may make a lot of sense economically.
Conservation-oriented ranching is not *entirely* an oxymoron...there are ranchers, and then there are ranchers. For starters, . I know several folks who work or have worked for Quivira Coalition and they are very conscientious, idealistic, hard-working people. A huge amount of acreage in the west is tied up in ranching (obviously), and there are several groups that have realized that until Americans stop eating beef or federal land management priorities do a complete 180 (both far-fetched outcomes in the near term), there is a lot of value in demonstrating that responsible, ecologically conscious land management and economically viable ranching are not mutually exclusive.
From what I understand, there are also tax provisions that make it very beneficial for rangeland to be classified as "ranchland" rather than some other use...running a few head of cattle on otherwise empty land may make a lot of sense economically.
It sounds good on paper, doesn't it? But when multi multi-million dollar ranches are benefitting from the federal government at the taxpayer expense, and your average Joe barely owns .10 acres, it's not really fair is it? So they create some grant and tax breaks for themselves, hoard the land, raise cattle, open up hunting clubs, it's really just a good ole boys' club with all the tax perks. It's not right.
Here's one of the Quivira lands that was for sale, notice it's value, $11,000,000.00. Notice what they stress on the listing to sell the property--that there were hundreds of cattle, that there was the potential for hunting clubs with antelope, etc.
If very wealthy people want to conserve land, do good for the planet, they don't need to hide behind "conservation" while financially benefitting at the taxpayer's expense, all the while running a good ole boys hunting club and cattle ranch with hundreds of heads of cattle. They can just DO IT, good environmental moves, with No tax breaks to the stinkin' rich necessary.
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