Valencia County seeks grant to upgrade Las Maravillas Park trails

Valencia County Parks and Recreation requested $500,000 to rejuvenate Las Maravillas Park through the state’s Outdoor Recreation Trails+ grant program. State officials announced the final FY24 round of awards on Aug. 12, 2024, and the county’s project was among 17 that split $3.2 million.

The grant materials describe Las Maravillas as a 20.5-acre property meant to support bird watching, cycling and picnicking. The proposed work goes beyond routine upkeep: the county wants to restore trails and parkland, stock a pond and make the trails ADA-compliant. That accessibility work is the clearest sign the project is aimed at daily use, not just weekend visits, because compliant trails are the difference between a park that only some residents can use and one that can serve people with mobility limitations, older adults and families with strollers.

The project also fits the New Mexico Outdoor Recreation Division’s stated mission of increasing equitable access to the outdoors for all New Mexicans, with goals tied to healthy outcomes, environmental stewardship and economic prosperity. In practical terms, that means the county is trying to turn Las Maravillas into a nearby, low-cost place for walking, riding bikes and gathering outside without forcing residents to travel to a larger park or pay for entertainment.

The county’s parks and recreation office is listed at 444 Luna Ave. in Los Lunas, placing the project inside the county government core. Valencia County Public Works is also based in that same civic area, underscoring how closely the park upgrade is tied to county operations in the seat of government.

The funding request sits inside a larger state push to use outdoor recreation dollars as infrastructure. The Trails+ grant page says the program has distributed $39,659,005 overall, and a Feb. 11, 2025 state announcement said New Mexico invested $4 million in outdoor recreation access and trail infrastructure for 28 projects projected to create 300 jobs. The FY27 Trails+ cycle is listed as open July 1 through Sept. 30, 2026, showing that local governments must keep competing for grant money if they want projects like Las Maravillas to move from plans to finished trails.