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Albuquerque's Open Space Ranks Number One
The City of Albuquerque has been ranked first place nationally for its percentage of land devoted to open space, as highlighted in the below article printed in the New Mexico Business Weekly on Monday, July 23rd, 2007.
During his tenure as an elected official, City Councilor Martin Heinrich has seen through several measures adding to that standing, bringing Albuquerque's total amount of open space to one quarter of our City's total land acreage. Albuquerque's Hawkwatch Property (pictured above) is an example of sensitive Open Space protected through Heinrich's Council actions.
"We're really proud of our open space heritage – it's such an important component of our quality of life and is why people choose to live here. Not to mention, it sets us apart from other cities throughout the nation and around the world," says Heinrich.
Councilors Heinrich and Benton recently introduced legislation to dramatically enlarge the Gutierrez Canyon Open Space in Albuquerque’s East Mountains.
Albuquerque No. 1 in open space
New Mexico Business Weekly - 3:02 PM MDT Monday, July 23, 2007
A study released Monday by the Trust for Public Land indicates Albuquerque devotes the most land area by percentage to parks and preserves of any large city in the country.
Jacksonville, Fla., ranks first in total acreage and on an acres-per-capita basis, with 131.4 acres of parkland for every 1,000 residents. However, when parkland is measured as a percent of the total size of the city, the leader is Albuquerque, with more than one-quarter of its land protected as public open space. (In both cities, however, not all acquired parkland is yet open to the public.)
The Trust for Public Land is a national nonprofit that works to protect parks and open space.
The results were based on an eight-month study by the Trust for Public Land's Center for City Park Excellence, the nation's leading source of data about urban park systems. The most recent year for available data is 2005.
The center releases new numbers annually and posts them on the Web at www.tpl.org/cityparkfacts .