Las Tusas, NM

Las Tusas is a Cibola County census-designated place near the southern tip of Bluewater Lake, in the high country north of the Zuni Mountains. The 2020 census counted 253 residents. New Mexico State Road 612 leads north about 12 miles to Thoreau and Interstate 40, while a Forest Service road heads south through Cibola National Forest toward New Mexico 53 and the Continental Divide. At roughly 7,500 feet, the community's roads, pinyon-juniper country, and distance from larger towns shape ordinary errands.

The CDP was known as Bluewater Acres in the 2010 census, a reminder that the community's name has shifted even as the lake remains the fixed point. Bluewater Lake State Park supplies the area's main public infrastructure, with boating, fishing, camping, hiking, birding, horseback riding, a boat ramp, and developed campsites. Grants handles larger shopping, medical, and government trips, while Thoreau is the closer highway connection. Las Tusas is a small high-elevation settlement where a reservoir, forest roads, and a state park do more to organize local life than any traditional downtown.