During
the last term of Governor Bruce King the Division was again requested
to focus its efforts on the creation of a Foundation. In 1994,
the Division hired Geraldine Faires to use her vast experience
in working with non-profits to research organizations across
the country formed to support a state park system. Faires compiled
print information on various Foundations. Again, the pursuit
of a Foundation to support New Mexico’s state parks, ground
to a halt.
1995
brought the beginning of the first term of Governor Gary Johnson.
Governor Johnson appointed Jennifer A. Salisbury to serve as
Secretary of the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resource Department
(EMNRD) and approved the appointment of Thomas A. Trujillo to
serve as Director of the Park and Recreation Division. Together
they envisioned a Foundation that would be able to provide financial
support for programs and projects that could not be funded by
public dollars and park fees, but were necessary to the Division’s
mission. Faires revived her work on the project until she resigned
from state government.
In
1996, Secretary Salisbury asked Consuelo T. Chavez of the Administrative
Services Division of EMNRD to review the information compiled
by Faires and prepare a report on the feasibility of establishing
a Foundation. The resulting report was entitled “Park Foundations,
A Survey of Existing Models”. The report advised that although
the economic climate coupled with the decline in charitable giving
did not bode well for the success of a fledgling non-profit organization,
having a group organized and ready when the “time was right” was
a strategically prudent move.
Following
delivery of the report to Secretary Salisbury, the project was
once again tabled as
other programs and projects took precedence.
In
July of 2001, the administrative position held by Chavez was
returned from the Administrative
Services Division to the State Parks Division (the name
of the Division was changed by statute in 1998.)
At
that time, Director Trujillo assigned Chavez the task of establishing
a statewide friends group to support State Parks in addition
to seeking to establish a “Friends Group” in each
state park. Friends Groups are organizations, formed to serve
as a source of volunteer and financial support for each individual
state park.
It
was during the development of the statewide “Friends” program
that Trujillo met John Briscoe in Albuquerque. A retired developer
and former President of a division of the Wilder Foundation in
Minnesota, Briscoe offered to assist Chavez in developing the
statewide “Friends Group” as well as consulting on
the “Friends” program development.
At
the onset, the problems inherent in forming a statewide friends
group made the formation of such an organization a project of
enormous proportions. The majority of state parks did not have
formal organizations of this nature. Those that did, and were
very successful at it, looked at a statewide group as a hindrance
to their progress.
Briscoe,
while assisting most magnanimously with the “Friends” effort,
insisted that the benefits of a Foundation to the entire park
system far outweighed any help a friends group might provide.
It was then decided that efforts would be put forth to organizing
the Foundation for New Mexico State Parks.
In
consultation with Carol Leach, EMNRD’s General Counsel, the services
of Pat Rogers, LLB of the Modrall Sperling law firm in Albuquerque were secured
to assist in the development of the Articles of Incorporation and the by-laws
for the Foundation.
Founding
Board Members were sought and named. David A. Skasik, Charles
Mullings and Robert Findling, all former Park Division employees
were joined by David Barrett, CPA, CGFM was also selected to
sit on the Board and serve as the treasurer and accountant for
the Foundation. Briscoe was elected to serve as the Foundation’s
first Executive Director and the services of Melissa Howard,
referred by Park Superintendent Karen Brown of Rio Grande Nature
Center State Park, were secured to serve as grant writer.
On
August 6, 2002, James M. Parker of Modrall Sperling advised Briscoe
and Chavez that the Articles of Incorporation were in good order
and ready for filing with the New Mexico Public Regulatory Commission.
Subsequent to filing, the first meeting of the Board of Directors
was scheduled and the work of the Foundation began.
As
of January 2003, the Foundation began actively seeking funding
sources and planning events to publicly announce its existence
and begin an aggressive fundraising campaign.
Briscoe
left the Foundation late in 2004 and was succeeded by David Wyman,.
Wyman had served as the Director of the NMRide project, an exploration
of a bicycle ride modeled after the Register’s Annual Great
Bicycle Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI,). He agreed to serve as Interim
Executive Director.
David Simon, appointed Director of New Mexico State Parks by Governor Bill
Richardson in January of 2003, continued to encourage the Foundation and personally
secured designated donations, which afforded the organization an opportunity
to begin anew.
Under
the direction of Gerald E. Weinstein and Orlando “Orlie” Sedillo,
the Foundation has experienced a rebirth. They called Chavez
out of retirement to join them as Executive Director and in November
of 2006, the Board of Directors chose to change the name of the
Foundation to “New Mexico State Parks Foundation.” Currently,
the Board boasts of six members who are active participants in
the growth of the Foundation. |
