City of Farmington inches closer to new bike park

FARMINGTON, N.M. – The City of Farmington has acquired 93 acres of land on the north end of town.

“The land has been in the works of being donated to us for a couple of years, and then we were trying to figure out, okay what do we do with it,” Warren Unsicker, the City of Farmington’s director of Economic Development said.

The answer became obvious with the mountain views, rolling foothills, and the rugged terrain.

“To create our own recreation park of sorts, we got so many great bike bikes and trails around the community, but 90% of them are on BLM land or public land that isn’t owned by the city,” said Unsicker. 

And that idea is getting closer. Last month, Farmington was awarded $2 million from New Mexico’s Outdoor Recreation Department. $100,000 of that, will fund the first phase of this project, called the Juniper Basin Recreation Area.

“We have been wanting to have a curated bike park that we could create the types of trails we felt the community needed, and that included tot tracks, pump tracks, things for people that are just getting started as well as more advance things,” Unsicker said. 

Unsicker added, this project also falls in line with the direction of the economy.

“Over the past five to six years we’ve seen such a huge growth in the outdoor recreation economy, and this is something that we have the beautiful landscapes to take advantage of and use, and we just haven’t capitalized on,” she said. 

Unsicker noted that the final design phase of the Juniper Basin Recreation Area is 95% complete, and the city will soon have a timeline on when construction of the first phase of the project will begin.