SANTA FE – The New Mexico Department of Game and Fish Off-Highway Vehicle (OHV) Program is pleased to announce the following 2024-2025 grant cycle awards totaling $162,700: 

OHV Education and Trail Safety Grants –

  • $20,000 to Region II Emergency Medical Services, Inc., to distribute newly developed public-safety media campaigns that will help reduce preventable pediatric traumatic brain injuries among young OHV operators in Doña Ana, Grant, Hidalgo, Luna and Sierra counties.
  • $14,000 to the Red Rock Motorsports Club, Inc. of Gallup, New Mexico, to upgrade OHV park facilities and maintenance and erosion-mitigation projects at the City of Gallup’s Red Rock Motorsports Park.
  • $10,000 to the Village of Los Lunas Open Space Division for purchasing off-highway vehicle safety equipment to equip their staff while conducting OHV safety training and enforcing the Village of Los Lunas’s ordinances.
  • $10,000 to the Red River Off-road Coalition, Inc., to protect wetlands from Midnight Meadows to Greenie Peak in the Questa Ranger District of the Carson National Forest by closing off illegal user-created trails by installing natural barriers to guide users to designated routes.
  • $8,000 to the Cliffhangers Four Wheel Drive Club of Farmington, New Mexico, to assist with opening six previously closed trails at the Bureau of Land Management Farmington Field Office-Glade Run Recreation Area. The project will include installing interpretative OHV trail signage which gives a difficulty level of difficulty rating per trail.

OHV Law Enforcement Overtime Patrols – 

  • $10,000 to Logan Police Department
  • $11,000 to Grant County Sheriff’s Office
  • $31,000 to United States National Forests in New Mexico (divided between the Carson, Cibola, Gila, Lincoln and Santa Fe National Forests)
  • $10,000 to Los Lunas Open Space Rangers
  • $10,000 to Sandoval County Sheriff’s Department
  • $10,000 to Sunland Park Police Department
  • $8,700 to Otero County Sheriff’s Office
  • $10,000 to Deming Police Department

Since 2011, the OHV Program has awarded more than $5 million in grants to land management agencies, non-profits and law enforcement agencies. These funds can be used to improve existing OHV routes, to address local areas of concern utilizing OHV-specific overtime enforcement patrols, for officers to host OHV safety training classes to certify juveniles, and/or to conduct education and outreach events informing the public on OHV safety requirements.

Awardees including the New Mexico Off-Highway Vehicle Alliance, the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management have been instrumental in reopening the Elephant Rock Trail in the Carson National Forest’s Questa Ranger District, continuing maintenance and rerouting of trails in the Cedro Ranger District of the Cibola National Forest and creating a new OHV trailhead, training site and campground at the BLM Farmington Field Office’s Glade Run Recreation Area.

Funds for these grants are user-generated revenues from OHV registrations collected

in the state’s Trail Safety Fund and administered by the Department. No General Fund monies are used for OHV grants.

All OHVs operated on public lands in New Mexico must be registered. OHV users cannot ride on paved roads unless a local municipality or county ordinance or resolution authorizes paved road use. All OHV riders and passengers under 18 must wear an approved helmet and eye protection. OHV operators under 18 must carry proof of having completed online or hands-on OHV safety training. OHV laws and rules can be found at https://wildlife.dgf.nm.gov/ohv/ohv-laws-and-rules.