New Mexico Wants to Know How Much You Spend in the Dirt
There is a version of the American weekend that looks like this: a truck loaded with gear before sunrise, a trail map downloaded the night before, and hours spent picking through canyon terrain or threading switchbacks on a dirt bike with no cell signal and nothing but high desert air. In New Mexico, that version is common — and the state government has finally decided to put a dollar figure on it.
The New Mexico Department of Wildlife has launched a survey focused entirely on off-road recreation, specifically aimed at understanding how much money it actually costs to get outside and into the backcountry. It is a straightforward ask from a government agency, but the implications behind it reach far deeper than a simple questionnaire.
The department says the survey is meant to gather information on the economic impact of off-road recreation, especially for rural communities. That distinction — rural communities — matters enormously in a state where wide swaths of the land between Albuquerque and the borders are sparsely populated, economically vulnerable, and deeply reliant on whatever outside money flows in on weekends and holidays. The people filling up gas tanks in Tierra Amarilla, grabbing burritos in Reserve, or buying a spare tube in Raton are, in many cases, OHV riders, overlanders, and backcountry bikepackers who think nothing of driving three hours for a long weekend ride.
What the Survey Is Actually Asking
If you backpack, dirt bike, or overland in any of New Mexico's back-country areas, the state wants to know how much you spend on gas, food, lodging, gear, and goods from local businesses. That breakdown is telling. These are not abstract economic metrics — these are the specific categories of spending that circulate through small-town economies. A two-night trip for a group of four on ATVs can easily generate hundreds of dollars in fuel purchases, motel stays, restaurant tabs, and last-minute gear runs at a local hardware store. Multiplied across an entire season and an entire state, the numbers start to look significant.
The survey represents the kind of data collection that state agencies and policymakers desperately need but rarely have in a clean, quantifiable form. Off-road recreation has historically been difficult to measure. Unlike ski resorts, which operate in fixed locations and have clear revenue tallies, the economic activity generated by OHV riding, dirt biking, and overlanding is diffuse. It spreads across counties, spills into local businesses that don't track where their customers came from, and often happens in places where there is no official tally of visitor traffic at all.
The Backdrop: New Mexico's Outdoor Economy Is Already Enormous
The survey doesn't exist in a vacuum. It is arriving at a moment when New Mexico's outdoor recreation economy is demonstrably on the rise and actively being championed at the state level. According to the latest data from the BEA Outdoor Recreation Satellite Account, outdoor recreation created $3.2 billion in value added for New Mexico, accounting for 2.4% of New Mexico GDP and 29,182 jobs in 2023. That is not a niche sector — that is a major pillar of the state's economic foundation.
The BEA report indicates that 2023 saw the largest recorded increase in New Mexico's outdoor recreation GDP at 6.6% compared to the previous year, and the industry also experienced steady growth in employment, with over 1,000 new jobs created. For context, more people are working in outdoor recreation in New Mexico than in farming and manufacturing. That statistic alone should reframe how anyone thinks about the politics and policy of access to public lands in the state.
Several outdoor activities have seen double-digit growth in New Mexico in recent years: snow sports increased by 10%, canoeing and kayaking surged by 13%, and hunting and trapping grew by 17%. Off-road motorized recreation — ATVs, side-by-sides, off-highway motorcycles, overlanding — is a particularly active and growing segment of that overall picture, even if it has historically been harder to quantify than activities that occur in more structured settings.
New Mexico residents enjoy outdoor recreation on more than 35 million acres of public lands, and the outdoor recreation economy directly supports $1.2 billion in income and 33,500 jobs. Those public lands — managed by the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, state agencies, and tribal entities — are the canvas on which off-road recreation happens every single day. Knowing how much economic weight that activity carries is not just a budgetary exercise; it is an argument for investment, for infrastructure, and for the political will to keep those lands accessible.
What OHV Recreation Looks Like on the Ground in New Mexico
New Mexico is genuinely exceptional terrain for anyone who rides off-road. The state covers terrain types that most Americans would have to drive across three state lines to find in combination: high-alpine forests above 10,000 feet near Taos and the Jemez Mountains, arid desert canyon country in the south, wide-open BLM land in the northwest, and everything in between. The riding is varied, often challenging, and consistently spectacular.
These diverse landscapes attract a wide variety of outdoor enthusiasts, including off-highway vehicle users — a category that includes vehicles commonly known as side-by-sides, four-wheelers, off-highway motorcycles, and snowmobiles. Each of those machine types attracts a different demographic, but they all share a common behavior pattern: they travel to get to the good stuff, and they spend money along the way.
These vehicles provide access to areas that traditional highway vehicles may not be able to reach easily, which is precisely what makes them so appealing to serious backcountry enthusiasts. An overlanding rig fitted with a rooftop tent and a dual compressor can get a rider into terrain where no other form of transportation — outside of a horse — would take them. That access is the whole point, and it is the reason people plan multi-day trips around it.
The Jemez Mountains northwest of Albuquerque, the forests near Red River in the north, and the vast network of BLM roads in the Gila region are among the most popular corridors for off-road activity in the state. These areas see consistent traffic from serious riders throughout the warmer months, and the gateway towns along the way — small communities with a gas station, a diner, maybe a bar — see real dollars from that traffic.
The Department's Dual Role: Enforcement and Stewardship
The New Mexico Department of Wildlife is not simply in the business of counting dollars. It is also one of the primary law enforcement bodies responsible for keeping off-road recreation responsible and sustainable. The department is one of several law enforcement agencies responsible for helping ensure OHV users ride safely and responsibly, and its goal is to help the public recreate safely while protecting the resources that make New Mexico special.
Across the Southwest, including Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Arizona, and Kansas, agencies have seen an increase in reports of unauthorized OHV activity resulting in habitat damage and resource impacts. That is the tension that every land management agency in the West is navigating right now: more riders on the land, more economic activity, and more potential for damage to the ecosystems that make the riding worth doing in the first place.
Driving off established routes can significantly damage vegetation, soils, watersheds, and wildlife habitat. In some cases, unauthorized travel can impact critical habitat used by elk and other wildlife species that call New Mexico's forests home. Elk country is also prime OHV country — the same high-altitude meadows and pine-forest drainages that attract riders in summer and fall attract hunters for the same reasons, and the wildlife agency has to balance both interests while keeping an eye on habitat health.
To address these concerns, officers with the New Mexico Department of Wildlife joined the U.S. Forest Service, New Mexico State Police, Jemez Springs Police Department, Rio Arriba County Sheriff's Office, Sandoval County Sheriff's Office, and other partners for a large-scale saturation patrol, conducted over multiple days, focused on public safety, educating visitors about responsible recreation, and protecting sensitive natural resources in alpine areas near Jemez Springs and Red River.
The approach reflects a philosophy that is gaining traction across western states: enforcement alone does not build a responsible riding culture. Education does. "These operation efforts show that direct contact with operators through education and partnerships help create a more responsible OHV community," said Desi Ortiz, the department's OHV program manager. "We have observed a reduction in reports of severe or egregious OHV-related impacts." That kind of incremental cultural shift — riders policing themselves, veterans mentoring newcomers — is the long-term goal.
Safety Regulations: What Riders Need to Know
Alongside its enforcement and stewardship work, the department has also been updating the regulatory framework around OHV use in recent years. New Mexico has requirements for off-highway motor vehicles designed to protect the safety of all those who use them, and state law requires anyone younger than 18 who will operate an OHV on public lands or any ATV or ROV on authorized paved roads to possess an OHV safety permit during use.
Because the physical skills required for safe operation differ from one type of OHV to another, the department recommends taking a safety class for the type of machine to be operated. That is common-sense advice that experienced riders often forget to pass down: what you know about riding a full-size 4x4 does not automatically translate to operating a 700cc side-by-side at altitude, and what a seasoned ATV rider knows doesn't necessarily prepare someone for an off-highway motorcycle on technical single-track.
What the Survey Data Could Unlock
Getting a real number on what off-road recreation is worth to rural New Mexico is not just an academic exercise — it is leverage. When a state agency or a rural county government can walk into a budget meeting and say that OHV riders spent $X million in their region last year across fuel, food, lodging, and gear, it changes the conversation around road maintenance, trail development, and land access.
That dynamic has played out in other parts of the West. Trail networks in Gallup, New Mexico, and associated events have brought $17 million in new spending to the area, with running and biking events alone bringing an estimated $45,000 per event to the community. Motorized trail systems tend to generate even larger per-visitor spending figures than non-motorized ones, because riders are traveling farther, staying longer, and carrying more gear that needs servicing and fuel.
Since 2014, the city of Farmington, New Mexico, has invested $12 million in outdoor recreation infrastructure, including a motorized trail system and a public beach at the municipal lake. That kind of municipal investment in motorized recreation infrastructure is still relatively rare, but Farmington's example suggests it can pay off when local governments commit to it. The question for rural communities across the state is whether they have the data to make the same case to their own elected officials and to state funding bodies.
The New Mexico Outdoor Recreation Division has previously surveyed businesses in the outdoor sector to understand their needs and challenges. Access to funding was the top need of businesses statewide at 69.2%, with marketing as the second biggest need at 64.4%, and infrastructure and land management rounding out the top three at 55.8%. Off-road recreation businesses — rental shops, guided ride operations, gear outfitters — face the same pressures, and without hard data on consumer spending, they struggle to make their case to potential investors or grant-making bodies.
A Broader Pattern of State-Level Data Gathering
The off-road survey fits into a wider pattern of New Mexico agencies using public input to shape policy and funding priorities. New Mexico State Parks has also turned to the public for help on shaping the future of outdoor recreation, launching a public survey to help guide a long-term plan that determines how state lands are developed, maintained, and protected.
Last fiscal year, New Mexico received its largest amount ever from the U.S. Department of the Interior, amounting to $4.65 million. Federal funding formulas for outdoor recreation infrastructure are often tied to demonstrated need and demonstrated use — which is exactly what a well-designed survey can establish. Without participation from actual riders, the numbers governments use to make funding decisions are estimates at best and fiction at worst.
The pattern also reflects a maturation in how western states think about outdoor recreation as an economic sector. For decades, hunting and fishing licenses were the primary mechanism through which wildlife agencies tracked outdoor recreation participation and collected user fees. OHV registration fees added another revenue stream, but they captured only a fraction of the actual economic activity generated by off-road recreation. A consumer spending survey of the kind the Department of Wildlife is now conducting gets closer to the real picture.
Why Every Rider Should Participate
There is a self-interested argument for every dirt biker, overlander, and off-road enthusiast in New Mexico to take a few minutes and fill out this survey. The data it generates will inform decisions about trail funding, land access, and resource allocation for years to come. If the off-road community does not show up in the data, it will not show up in the budget.
Rural New Mexico has faced real economic headwinds for years. While New Mexico's rural counties have generally declined, averaging -4.3% growth, neighboring Utah's rural counties saw the opposite trend, averaging 7.3% growth. The gap is not inevitable — it reflects policy choices, infrastructure investment, and the degree to which communities have been able to capitalize on their natural assets. Recreation-driven economic development is one of the clearest paths forward for towns that sit on the edge of spectacular public land but lack the traditional economic anchors of a military base or a large employer.
"The new data shows that outdoor recreation is vital to New Mexico's economy and the well-being of our communities. This is especially true in our rural areas where it creates jobs, boosts local economies, and enhances health and wellness," said Rob Black, New Mexico Economic Development Department Cabinet Secretary-Designate. That kind of official endorsement at the cabinet level signals that outdoor recreation — including its motorized, off-road segments — has real allies in state government. But those allies need ammunition, and the ammunition is data.
At the national level, the scale of the outdoor recreation economy puts the importance of this kind of research in perspective. Outdoor recreation generated $1.2 trillion in economic output nationally, $639.5 billion in GDP, comprised 3.1% of U.S. employees, and accounted for 5 million jobs in 2023. New Mexico's off-road community is part of that national story, but only shows up in policy conversations when the local data is robust enough to be cited. A survey is a start. Participation makes it matter.
The New Mexico Department of Wildlife's off-road recreation survey is live now. If you ride in the state — whether you're running a KTM through the Jemez, wheeling a Tacoma through the Gila, or overlanding a 4Runner along the high-country back roads near Chama — your spending data is exactly what state planners need to make the case for the trails, roads, and land access that make all of it possible.
