After 30 years in Meadow Lake, Jim Lane has no intention of leaving.

"I'm going to die here," Lane said. "No matter how bad Meadow Lake gets."

And Lane has seen the eastern Valencia County community go from a thriving subdivision based around a lake to a community afraid to walk down its own streets.

He and his wife, Beth, moved to Valencia County with a 19-foot travel trailer and two small children. They worked to build their dream home on five acres that has uninterrupted views of the Isleta Pueblo.

"We made our adobes and cut our vigas. I dug the foundation by hand with a wheelbarrow," he said. "Meadow Lake used to be on the road to something. Now its on a road to nowhere."

That is something Lane wants to see change. And as the president of a recently incorporated nonprofit, the Meadow Lake Parks Area Association (MLPAA), Lane is working towards taking back a part of Meadow Lake he remembers fondly — the community's namesake lake.

Lane can remember swimming and fishing in the lake. He remembers a dock on the west end of the water next to a small club house. Family pictures show diving and horseplay abounding in the clear blue water.

In the mid '80s, the lake was finally drained due to liability issues.

Since then, it has become a magnet for activities such as illegal dumping, partying, ad hoc shooting galleries and the occasional car fire. The bottom of the dry lake is strewn with broken open bags of household trash, piles of tires and random furniture.

Now, with the help of the community and the association's seven-member board of directors, Lane has a vision to make the lake area into something much different.

Through negotiations, MLPAA was able to secure two one-year leases on the 35 acres that includes the lake. According to Lane, the current property owner, Max Kiehne, has said that after the two-year lease period, he will donate the land to the association provided it has received its federal nonprofit tax designation.

With a lone bird warbling in the sunset, Lane stands on the banks of the old lake and explains the goals of the association.

Starting with the 17-acre lake, the first phase would build three small ponds, two quarter acre water bodies and one half acre pond, and establish a system of walking trails and open space.

Lane said water rights to the property are still owned by the daughter of D.W. Falls, the previous developer, and the association will have to lease water rights for the property, which he estimates will total about 12 acre feet, annually.

"This will never be a 'lake' again," Lane said. "But it can be a place where people can come walk without fear of being chased by loose dogs, shot at or endangered by cars just because someone thinks its funny."

The second phase of the project is to establish a riding trail up to Cordova Canyon on the west side of the Manzano Mountains. Currently, Lane has a commitment from Kiehne for right-of-way on three of the 4.2 miles from the lake to the mountains.

The last section between the property owned by Kiehne and the mountains is privately owned and ranched by the Cordova family.

"I have talked to them about crossing their property, and they aren't real enthusiastic about it," Lane said. "I don't want to disrupt their ranching operations. I think anyone who is willing to ride, bike or hike that distance to get to the mountains will be good stewards of the land."

If the trail can't go across the private property, Lane says there are other connection options across state and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands, which will add some mileage to the route.

Lane said he contacted the Pueblo of Isleta to see if it wanted to participate in the project, possibly by putting a gate on the boundary fence between the tribal lands and the lake property to facilitate entrance for tribe members.

He also asked for a 50-acre no hunting buffer zone, and informed the pueblo of the planned horse trail to the Manzano Mountains along the border.

An e-mail from the tribe thanked Lane for making them aware of the project, but said they did not wish to participate in the project, declining the offer of a gate, to set up the buffer zone and involvement with a trail to the mountains, Lane said.

The final piece, if the association can acquire the land, will be for a general purpose playing field to the south of the lake. Lane says the fields won't be formal athletic fields, but places where people can run and play.

The third phase would include parking, rest rooms, a senior citizens community garden and horse corral.

Around the ponds, Lane is hoping to lay out a system of walking trails with interesting resting spots along the path.

"Maybe some rock formations or metal art," he said. "A place people can sit, enjoy the views and look for wildlife."

With a background in fabrication and machining, planning a large-scale project is nothing new to Lane.

"Doing this as a non-profit is new. Doing something without money is new. But running a project is not," he said. "The challenge here is selling an idea. The volunteers also have to believe this will benefit the community. To change our kids in a positive way, we have to give them the opportunity to change."

The youth in the community are a big reason Lane wants to see the project come to life. Growing up in Detroit, Lane has fond memories of summer programs at a local park that took children on wilderness "adventures" a couple of times a week.

"For a buck, they would load us up on a bus and take us canoeing for the day," he remembers. "It gave kids something to do, and I'm sure my Mom loved it."

For the Meadow Lake property, Lane envisions night sky viewing parties using telescopes, stories around campfires and grade schoolers on the hunt to identify different species of birds and varieties of plants.

A clean-up of the area planned for April by Tierra Bonita and the Valencia County Keep America Beautiful affiliate, has pledged as many dumpsters as are needed to get all the trash out of the lake and surrounding area.

Lane said there will also be a donated backhoe and operator on the site the day of the clean-up.

"The water table is only about 60 feet down, so that's another reason this needs to be cleaned up," he said. "We are trying to bring the community together.

"I know there are some who won't want to be a part of it," Lane said. "I know if we put signs up, they'll get shot. If we repair the fence, it's going to get cut."

Lane's hope is that once the community invests itself in the project, people using the area will be a deterrent to bad behavior.

The board has set up a fee schedule for yearly membership to the area that combines a small monetary donation and some sweat equity. For $24 and 20 hours of work on the project, a contributing member, plus three family members over the age of 5, gets access for a year. Anyone under five can use the area free of charge.

Lane said membership is open to anyone with a valid identification.

Further funding will be sought by pursing private, state and federal wildlife grants, Lane said.

The association also plans to hold at least four free "open house" days at the area so people can explore what it has to offer. In addition to quarterly free days, Lane said he hopes to have other free events at the park area to showcase its natural beauty.

"Right now, I have no idea what those events might be," he said. "Really, the only question is, 'Can we?' The answer to that is, 'Only if we try.'"

The MLPAA is holding its first public meeting at 3 p.m. on Saturday, March 20, which is appropriately enough, the first day of spring. The meeting will be held at the Meadow Lake Community Center.

For more information, call MLPAA president Jim Lane at 865-9786.

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