ALAMOGORDO, N.M. — As the future of Bonito Lake hangs in the balance ahead of a pivotal City Commission vote, residents will have a chance to hear directly from those who shaped the lake’s restoration at a Voices of Alamogordo Community Forum on Tuesday, September 1, at 6 p.m. at the Otero Arts Building, 1118 Indiana Ave. at 12th Street.

The forum, hosted by KALHRadio.org and AlamogordoTownNews.org, is free and open to the public. The panel will feature a former Alamogordo mayor, , former city staff, and concerned citizens, who will speak to the lake’s history, its significance and purpose, and the case for maintaining public access.

Organizers note the event is independent of Otero Arts and its mission; the venue is rented for the evening.

How We Got Here: A Century of History, a Fire, and a Long Road Back

Bonito Lake’s story stretches back more than a century. The reservoir in the Sierra Blanca, tucked into the Lincoln National Forest northwest of Ruidoso, traces its origins to the railroad era, when the Southern Pacific Railroad controlled water rights in the canyon and built the first small dam upstream. The railroad later sold the lake to the City of Alamogordo, which needed a reliable drinking-water supply and connected the reservoir to its La Luz treatment plant by pipeline. For generations, the lake and its surrounding campgrounds were a beloved destination for fishing, camping, and family gatherings — a mountain retreat owned by a desert city.

That era ended abruptly in June 2012, when the Little Bear Fire scorched the watershed above the lake. Monsoon rains that followed washed enormous volumes of ash, gravel, and debris off the burned mountainsides and into the reservoir, choking it with sediment and forcing its closure. What followed was more than a decade of painstaking, expensive remediation. The lake was drained and dredged, the city partnered with FEMA and other federal agencies, and commissioners approved a multimillion-dollar restoration contract. The restored lake finally refilled with water in 2023.

In May 2024, the city signed a seven-year Open Gate agreement with the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish — a program funded by license sales that pays for public hunting and fishing access — and after a delay caused by the Blue 2 Fire, Bonito Lake reopened for shoreline fishing in August 2024, twelve years after it closed.

The Plan the City Adopted — and the Proposal That Could Reverse Its  Course

Central to Tuesday’s discussion will be the reopening roadmap the city itself put in writing. Alamogordo’s Commission-approved Community Services Master Plan lays out a phased path for Bonito Lake:

Phase 1 focused on safe access, including resurfacing the road from the gate to the dam, guardrails, a fire lane, and a five-year improvement plan; 

Phase 2 addressed the day-use area and campgrounds — parking, shoreline pathways, bridge and handrail repairs, restored campground access and restrooms — with longer-term goals including a nonmotorized boat launch and an accessible kayak launch.

The plan expressly identified public access to the lake and campgrounds as a priority.

Then-Parks and Recreation Director Belinda Bass was executing that plan, and the city backed it with action: on July 8, 2025, the Commission unanimously adopted Resolution 2025-19, placing “Bonito Lake Park Fishing Access and Day Use Re-Opening” at the top of its infrastructure funding requests to the Legislature at $250,000. Lawmakers delivered, funding the request in full in Senate Bill 240, which Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham signed on March 11, 2026.

But the trajectory changed under new City Manager Stockwell.

Bass departed the city — records obtained under the Inspection of Public Records Act appear to show she received a severance payment, and the circumstances of her exit have never been publicly explained.

Then, on August 25, 2026, City Manager Robert Stockwell brought the Commission a proposal to end the Open Gate agreement, close the lake to recreation, and build security fencing that could cost up to $1 million — roughly four times the state appropriation the city secured to keep the lake open.

Stockwell’s written report to the Commission made no mention of the $250,000. He has framed the closure as fiscal stewardship, arguing that recreation at the lake primarily benefits Lincoln County and Ruidoso rather than Alamogordo taxpayers.

Even more odd is the city issued a $56,000 ramp improvement project to a local contractor with work that has begun. Why would work begin only to close the lake? Another example of monetary waste or a City Manager not fully abreast to his city’s operations, with what appears to be an interdepartmental fight for control of this city owned asset. 

Critics counter that ending public access early would obligate the city to repay the state under the Open Gate agreement, would abandon the master plan the Commission adopted, and would spend far more fencing the public out than the state committed to letting them in.

The Commission tabled the fencing proposal until its September 22, 2026 meeting — making Tuesday’s forum a timely opportunity for residents to get informed, ask questions of those who know the lake’s history firsthand, and make their voices heard before the vote.

Voices of Alamogordo Community Forum — Keeping Bonito Lake Open

Tuesday, September 1, 2026, 6 p.m.

Otero Arts Building, 1118 Indiana Ave. (at 12th Street), Alamogordo

Free admission. Hosted by KALHRadio.org and AlamogordoTownNews.org the public is encouraged to attend and the event will be live streamed on the KALHRadio.org YouTube Channel. 

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