Neighbors raise concerns after national cemetery bulldozes trees, cuts into ridge

The beeping sound of construction trucks backing up echoed in the distance as Russ Garland stood in his driveway.

Garland, who lives in the Historic St. Catherine’s neighborhood directly east of the Santa Fe National Cemetery, which has been undergoing a major expansion, said workers earlier this year started rebuilding a retaining wall on a tract of land the city donated to the cemetery 15 years ago.

“We were just kind of keeping an eye on it,” he said.

Alarms went off, though, when a neighbor who lives close to the cemetery noticed work on a ridgeline in the middle of the 85-acre property, including the removal of several piñon and juniper trees and other vegetation.

The ridgeline is not only visually appealing but blocks some of the noise to the neighborhood from nearby U.S. 84/285.