Santa Fe resident Don Dayton, a former park ranger in three National Parks and superintendent of four National Park areas including White Sands National Monument and Carlsbad Caverns National Park, wrote an op-ed published in the Santa Fe New Mexican this weekend, “commend[ing] Sens. Jeff Bingaman and Tom Udall for requesting a study by the National Park Service” to assess the feasibility of having that agency manage the Valles Caldera as a National Park Preserve. An excerpt follows:
It seems very relevant that articles regarding the future of Valles Caldera National Preserve appear in the New Mexican, just as KNME-TV airs National Parks: America’s Best Idea. The film relates the history of the creation of Yosemite National Park when the fight was between creating a commercially dominated National Park versus a park for the people. In some ways, this is the question posed for Valles Caldera today.
From my 36 years experience with the National Park Service, there is simply no way that Valles Caldera can operate on a self-sustaining basis without heavy commercialization that could be highly detrimental to the area. In fact, the recent study commissioned by the Preserve Board recommends a “high-end” luxury hotel for the wealthy. The current operation, with the restrictions imposed, is already fast outpricing the average citizen’s ability to enjoy the area.
