Manufactured implosions to begin next week near Prehistoric Trackways National Monument

LAS CRUCES, New Mexico (KVIA) -- After years of people walking trails that officials tell ABC-7 are not safe, New Mexico's Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will begin manufacturing implosions in the area next to the Prehistoric Trackways National Monument Wednesday.

"Community Pit #1 was established back in the '70s by BLM as a community pit to gather stone. So local residents here in Las Cruces would come out and mine the stone, that nice red stone that you see in some of the houses here in southern New Mexico. And that was up until 2007. And throughout that period of time, no reclamation has been done to the actual site. So imagine when you're digging a hole and you got what you wanted out of the hole, but you didn't fill the hole back in. That is in essence what has happened here," said William Wight, a spokesperson for BLM.

That has led to 100-150 foot walls of stone to tower over the pit, including areas where people can walk, as the land is public. Wight said there's a danger of rocks falling to the beaten pathways below.

But BLM is now working with several contractors to make the area safe, starting with drilling holes in the limestone.

"What the drill is actually doing is boring holes where they're going to lay the actual explosives next week and it'll be a periodic little mini (implosions) throughout the next several months," said Wight. "The idea is to reclaim this land, make it a little bit more safe, make it look a bit more better."

The $9 million project will begin implosions Wednesday, and is expected to take until between July and early August 2024.

Officials told ABC-7 they will not close the monument during the project's course, but they will close certain roads and trails on the days of blasts. For updates on which areas will be closed off and when, you can visit BLM's Facebook page.