In a potentially historic action, New Mexico’s two U.S. senators, Jeff Bingaman (D) and Tom Udall (D), have asked the National Park Service to study the possibility of managing the Valles Caldera as a National Park Service preserve, which is similar to a normal national park, except that hunting is allowed, the Santa Fe New Mexican and the Albuquerque Journal reported today.
According to the article, Bingaman and Udall have asked the National Park Service to report their findings in a few months.
To students of the history of the Valles Caldera, Udall’s involvement in a potential change in management of the Valles Caldera is a nod to the history of the Caldera and his own family.
Tom Udall was elected New Mexico’s junior U.S. Senator in November 2008, after having represented Northern New Mexico in Congress since 1998. His father, Stewart Udall, served as President John F. Kennedy’s Secretary of the Interior after representing Southern Arizona in Congress. In 1962, Stewart Udall was a strong and vocal proponent of establishing a Valle Grande National Park, which never happened due to the purchase of the Baca Ranch by the Dunigan family of Texas in 1963 (which it owned until the Valles Caldera National Preserve was created in 2000).
Please contact New Mexico’s U.S. Congressional delegation and provide them feedback on this idea. Contact information can be found by clicking here. It would also be useful to write a letter to the editor explaining your position on this initiative. Contact information for local newspapers can be found by clicking here.
This could be good to see what the Park’s can realistically do. If they take over would we go through a period of no access again, while they go through their NEPA process? I have a feeling it will be years after they take over, before there would be access like some folks are expecting.
I, for one, applaud this action. The focus of the NPS management should be on three things: access, access, access. Do away with, or minimize to only where required (not sure where that would be, however), reservation-only hiking and provide significantly opened up access to the public in much the say way as other national parks are managed, including Bandelier which is directly connected. I would also like to see work connecting trails from Los Alamos county to this area, all of which are blocked now.
I worry that NPS staffing and initial processes (e.g. NEPA) will actually restrict access more, at least initially. So the focused intent here should be on public access under the NPS umbrella of resource protection. I have never liked the way this area is managed now and, as a result, have stayed away with the exception of the trails near the outer boundaries where I can just show up and hike on my schedule. I know many other people that also very much dislike the current management model.