Ventana Grande-Smith

The Ventana Grande property is located along the Corrales Acequia in the southern part of the Village of Corrales, a traditional northern New Mexican community located in the Rio Grande River valley between the booming metropolitan cities of Albuquerque and Rio Rancho. The property is part of a larger 25-acre property that is used primarily for agricultural production. The property consists of irrigated pastures and fields and affords spectacular views of the Sandia Mountains which rise to more than 10,000 feet.

In explaining why she opted to sell an easement over her land in Corrales, 91-year old landowner Dorothy Smith cautioned,

“There’s no turning back when you turn farms into subdivisions. People have got to start thinking about saving farmland now. When you look back at all the farmland that has been lost to houses, you realize that you’ve got to do more with what you have.”

This easement was purchased by the Village of Corrales through its Farmland Preservation Program with assistance from NMLC and the Corrales Farmland Preservation Committee, and subsequently conveyed to NMLC. The purpose of the Corrales Farmland Preservation Program is to preserve and protect the farmland, open space and viewsheds of the Village of Corrales in order to maintain its agricultural and rural character. Funding for the acquisition of the easement was provided by the Village of Corrales through funding generated from a local bond measure, and a federal grant through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm and Ranchland Protection Program, administered by the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Grant_for_Village_of_Corrales_and_NMLC.pdf
Farmland_and_Open_Space_Protected_in_Corrales.pdf