Bonito Lake near Ruidoso has been closed for more than 10 years due to a wildfire but is finally getting close to opening again.
Bonito Lake was nearly destroyed by the Little Bear Fire in 2021. The lake, owned by the city of Alamogordo, has since been limited to a city water source. But a few years ago, city commissioners approved more than eight million dollars to help Smithco Construction pursue a restoration project that is close to being completed. A soft opening could take place in about a year. FEMA, along with state and local funds is financing the restoration.
“Their focus before was on the lake and the dam and getting that water, and now, it’s going to be on the buildings, getting restrooms ready,” Alamogordo Marketing and Communications Specialist Bailey Orwoll said to KRQE.
The process of reopening the lake located in the Sierra Blanca Mountains has been a test of patience for contractors to make sure the lake is adequately restored before the public returns. The lake, once a popular fishing and camping destination, is now filled with water but remains closed for ecological reasons. “We don’t have fish in it right now because we want the plantation to grow, like all the good bacteria for the fish,” Orwoll told KRQE.
The city of Alamogordo conducted a survey in September to learn what people would like to experience at the lake. It reportedly received hundreds of responses. Officials said they have also received lots of calls from the community asking when the lake will open. “People are wanting this lake to happen because they want to like camp, and I saw canoeing and stuff like that,” Orwoll said.
Bonito Lake has been closed to the public since the Spring of 2012 when the Little Bear Fire destroyed most of the native vegetation in the Bonito Lake watershed area. Two ensuing storm events washed hundreds of thousands of cubic yards of forest debris and sediment into the lake and subsequent storms in 2012 and 2013 filled the lake with more debris. Smithco Construction began clearing the debris in 2017.