VallesCaldera.com – The independent news source about the Valles Caldera

Sunday’s Albuquerque Journal, as well as this month’s edition of Paonia, Colorado-based High Country News, featured an op-ed by Albuquerque resident Mike Castinado, entitled “Whose Valles Caldera Is It?”

Castinado begins his piece by referring to the Valles Caldera by its oft-repeated moniker, the Yellowstone of the Southwest:

But unlike Yellowstone, which is managed by the National Park Service, the [Valles Caldera National Preserve] has a radically different management structure. It is not managed by any federal agency; instead, it is run by a federal corporation known as the Valles Caldera Trust and its board of politically appointed trustees. Congress passed the Valles Caldera Preservation Act [of 2000] to establish the preserve and trust, and also gave it the unusual mandate that it must be operated as a working ranch and become financially self-sustaining.

Anyone who read the Preservation Act couldn’t fail to see its conflicting goals: preservation of the land, the former Baca Ranch, along with exploitation of the land in order to make a profit and sustain the trust. Many New Mexico residents like myself wondered how both goals could be achieved, but we were jubilant when at last the formerly private land became a public resource.

Nine years later, we’re a lot less jubilant. Public access is severely limited and also expensive, with $40 van tours, $35 to go fishing, $10 to hike on designated trails, and off-putting rules like no hiking midweek and fees tacked on to other activities. You have to pay to play in the preserve or be politically connected to get in. What’s more, public board meetings seem more like a sham, with directors recounting what has already been decided somewhere else, far away from public scrutiny. Executive directors also come and go with disturbing frequency — four in the last nine years.

Most of the nine board members are businesspeople with no public-land management experience. Almost without exception, all have fulltime endeavors to attend to besides the preserve. At best, a part-time board runs this national treasure.

Read this article in the High Country News (tagline: “For people who care about the West”) or in the Journal (after clicking on the prior link, non-subscribers must click on the “trial premium pass” button on the bottom left of the screen to read the story).