New Mexico Public Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard came to Questa’s Eagle Rock Lake Saturday, Aug. 6, for a “meet & greet” organized by the Taos County Democratic Party. Questa Mayor John Anthony Ortega and Councilor Brett Jaramillo attended along with about 15 others.

The Commissioner stayed at the lake mingling with prospective voters for about an hour and gave a short speech on the duties of her office and how she will continue to utilize the office if reelected.

“If you don’t know about the Land Office, essentially I’m responsible for … your state public land, 13 million acres of it statewide, and I have to use that land to make money for our public schools, universities, and hospitals,” said Commissioner Richard. “We’re trying to take the lead from Questa and highlight and develop destination areas on state land… places where people want to camp, hunt, backpack, hike… all kinds of things you can do on your state land. So that is one of the ways that we are making money. The reason I ran for this office is because I wanted to be in charge of the money to go to schools.”

Referencing office revenue from FY 2019 & 2020, Commissioner Richard went on to explain how it was under her leadership that the State Land Office made its first billion dollars.

“This year, we are set to announce that we have made the Land Office $2 billion in one year,” said the Commissioner.

There will be three candidates on the ballot for New Mexico’s Office of Public Land Commissioner this November: incumbent Stephanie Garcia Richard (Democrat), and challengers Jefferson Byrd (Republican) and Larry Marker (Independent, write-in).

If Commissioner Richard is reelected this November, because of term limits, she will not be able to run for a third term in four years.

Commissioner Richard’s full speech at the event is available at the following web address: https://soundcloud.com/dylan-r-n-crabb/nm-land-commissioner-steph-richard-eagle-rock-lake.