Don't hunt rocks at Rockhound State Park?

We’ve all heard the wildness ethic mantra: “Take only pictures and leave only footprints.” But that axiom only went so far recently when the New Mexico State Parks Department floated a trial balloon in a draft plan to curtail or possibly even eliminate rock collecting at Rockhound State Park in far southern New Mexico near Deming. The 249-acre park, as its name implies, was founded under the rock-collecting concept, an activity allowed in only one other state park in the U.S. Some locals of this retirement community and annual “snowbird” visitors didn’t think the idea rocked when they read the draft plan. “I had smoke coming out of my ears,” said MaryKay Brady, a board member of the non-profit group Friends of Rockhound State Park, Inc., when the plan was released. “(The Park’s) purpose was to provide a place for rockhounds,” said Brady, speaking after a recent public meeting on the plan. “The economic impact would be devastating to Deming and Luna County.” The parks department is under the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department (EMNRD) and both cabinet secretary designate John Bemis and parks director Tommy Mutz must sign off on any final plan. The timeframe of that process is currently unclear, department spokesperson Jodi Porter said...more

The state parkies have been watching the fed parkies way too much.