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.
