Where in the MetroABQ Are You? Netherwood Neighborhoods Urban Forest Park
![Urban Forest Park Near the Big I](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/6065a9c1b3fd3c6a9cd8f5be/60f18f40a069f69638646841_Urban-Forest-Big-I-1024x768.jpeg)
The Netherwood Park Neighborhood’s, Urban Forest Park: the coolest park you might never find.
Tucked in near the unending ribbons of asphalt & concrete that makes up The Big I (I40 & I25) Interchange, there are a few discrete Greenspaces to discover. One of the least known, and most diverse, is the Urban Forest Park, which sits alongside the exit ramp for Carlisle Blvd and I40; though you’d never know. It is a dense forest, accessed by one of two dead-end streets: Lafayette and Notre Dame in the Netherwood Park/North Campus area. A pack of coyotes is said to intermittently take refuge there, along with numerous snake spottings, roadrunners, and people looking for daytime shade.
![Urban Forest Park](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/6065a9c1b3fd3c6a9cd8f5be/60f18f405c16e04727339809_Urban-Forest-Park.jpeg)
Designated in 1950 as a park in the original plat, the Urban Forest Park was threatened in 1976 when a large developer hoped to build houses on the site. Neighbors convinced the developer to donate the land for tax purposes.
![Urban Forest Sign](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/6065a9c1b3fd3c6a9cd8f5be/60f18f40b5cc4c5645692491_Urban-Forest-Sign-1024x574.jpeg)
![Urban Forest Trail](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/6065a9c1b3fd3c6a9cd8f5be/60f18f40b46b564223c1feca_Urban-Forest-Trail-1024x678.jpeg)
![Urban Forest Park View](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/6065a9c1b3fd3c6a9cd8f5be/60f18f40c79d863effbfa0b5_Urban-Park-View-1024x768.jpeg)
Directly above, you can see the Sandia Mountains and the Wyndham Hotel and Waterpark in the background. A tree-dense park, seen in the three preceding images, provides a full, shady canopy, and trails to get sort of lost on. The top image is of the concrete sound barrier wall separating Interstate 40 from the Netherwood Park neighborhood.
Big I Parks East: MetroABQ’s small but dense and wild Urban Forest Park, also called Miracerros Park, is indicated by the ‘A’ balloon below; there are only two ways to access the park, both from Indian School Blvd. A quarter mile to the west is Netherwood Park, a well manicured park surrounded by numerous Mid-Century Modern homes. The blue lines indicate a concrete arroyo, but also happens to be the North Diversion Channel Bike Path, mentioned in the MetroABQ June Issue. Across the highway is Balduini Park, a 7-acre park with three baseball fields where many Lobo Little League games are held.
![Miracerros Park](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/6065a9c1b3fd3c6a9cd8f5be/60f18f40e98f2b0ab5eb9ede_Miracerros-Park-1-1024x491.jpeg)