On March 12, the Bureau of Land Management in Safford announced that the Hot Well Dunes Recreation Area will undergo facilities and road improvements.
June Lowery, the Gila District Public Affairs Specialist with the Bureau of Land Management in the Safford Field Office, told AZPM that it was years in the making for Hot Well Dunes to get upgrades.
“We had been wanting to do these upgrades for a pretty long time. So, it just seemed that it's timely to get them going,” Lowery said.
Funding from the The Great American Outdoors Act, around $14.4 million, is going to three projects in Graham County.
The Gila Box Riparian Conservation Area just northeast of Safford, Haekel Road and the Hot Well Dunes Recreation Area will all be getting updates from the funding in 2026.
Another spokesperson from the BLM’s Safford Field Office told AZPM between $4 million and $5 million will be going to each park improvement across Graham County.
Hot Well Dunes is a 1,700-acre multi-use recreation area with camping, places to ride off-highway vehicles and public hot tubs. Lowery explained that the monsoons can flood the hot tubs and pond located in the recreation area, which was an impetus to start the upgrades sooner rather than later.
Improvements to the facilities, ramadas, benches and a dirt road in the recreation area will be finished in a one-year timeframe. Additionally, the public hot tubs will be moved to a higher location and not be functional for public use in late November when solar and electrical upgrades are installed.
Repairs to these facilities commence next Monday on March 23, starting with the demolition of vault toilets. From March to June the dirt road in the park will be upgraded and gravel will be added in November.
The recreation area will stay open to the public with periodic impacts to amenities. BLM advises all travellers to “pack in and pack out” so that no trash is left behind, as receptacles will be upgraded.
“[At] BLM we really do strive to provide the public with the best recreation experience possible and we're really excited about the completion of this project and the resulting improvements to our visitors' recreation experiences,” Lowery said.
