Last Wednesday, the Valles Caldera National Preserve Board of Trustees conducted the first of four planned public meetings for 2010 at the Pueblo of Jemez. According to a story in the Los Alamos Monitor, at the meeting the governor of Jemez Pueblo voiced opposition to a possible transfer of management of the Caldera to the National Park Service that has been proposed by New Mexico’s U.S. senators. Click here to read this entire article. A portion of the article is quoted below:
Speaking at a meeting of the Valles Caldera Board of Trustees at the Jemez Pueblo Community Resource Center Wednesday, Joshua Madalena, tribal governor, stated his opposition to converting the Valles Caldera National Preserve to a National Park Service Preserve.
He criticized a National Park Service report about the feasibility of acquiring the preserve for not having properly considered the Pueblo. “We have been worshiping on these lands for thousands of years,” he said, “and we want assurance that we will continue to have access to our traditional sacred grounds. The report did not address our needs.”
Conciliatory reaction to Gov. Madalena’s statement by New Mexico’s congressional delegation and groups interested in the Caldera seemed to acknowledge the validity of the governor’s displeasure that the Pueblo had not been adequately consulted regarding this potential change in management:
Jude McCartin, a spokeswoman for Bingaman acknowledged the Pueblo’s position and promised to respond. “We will reach out to tribal leadership and schedule consultations as soon as possible,” she said. She added that the “needs of all the tribes will be addressed before any action will take place relative to the Valles Caldera.”
Caldera Action, a watchdog group, has been leading the effort for change. Tom Ribe, the executive director for the group, said he appreciated the governor’s concerns. “Our position is that the Pueblo of Jemez has a profound connection to the landscape of the VCNP, one that is recognized in the statute creating the preserve. We understand and support that connection. We are very concerned that the Pueblo of Jemez was not adequately consulted in the development of the NPS study. Caldera Action has always maintained that the Pueblo of Jemez is a very important stakeholder of the preserve.”
