On March 4th and 9th, the County of Los Alamos hosted two “listening sessions” designed to provide an opportunity for county councilors to gauge public opinion regarding a proposed council resolution that would express support for transferring management of the Valles Caldera National Preserve to the National Park Service.
Attendees of the meetings revealed an overwhelming, compelling, and vocal opposition to Trust management of the Preserve, as well as explicit support by 86% of attendees for National Park Service management of the Caldera.
At the March 4th meeting, at Fuller Lodge in Los Alamos, 69 members of the public attended (according to the County), as did County Councilors Nona Bowman and Ralph Phelps. Dozens of attendees offered public comments, and every comment but one was critical of the Trust. According to an article on the first listening session in the Los Alamos Monitor (click here to read the article):
Former State Sen. Steve Stoddard of Los Alamos, one of the founding trustees for the preserve was virtually alone in opposition to reassigning the preserve to the Park Service.
Particularly revealing was the straw poll taken after each public comment, designed to gauge public reaction to each speaker. Each poll was overwhelmingly in favor of Park Service management of the Caldera:
Facilitator Allison Majure called for an informal showing of hands after each comment. Public comment and the straw votes were consistently critical of the Trust’s management.
According to the County’s synopsis of the meetings, 67 of the 69 attendees of the first meeting raised their hands when asked if they supported National Park Service management of the Preserve.
At the conclusion of the first session, Councilor Bowman verbally noted the near unanimity of opposition to Trust management expressed at that meeting.
The second listening session, on March 9th in the Los Alamos suburb of White Rock, was attended by 27 members of the public, according to Los Alamos County (five county councilors also attended). According to a straw poll conducted by the County, 16 of 27 attendees of the meeting expressed support for National Park Service management of the Caldera.
Given the official numbers released by Los Alamos County for both events (67 supporters of Park Service management of the VCNP at the first meeting, 16 supporters at the second; out of 69 attendees at the first meeting, plus 27 at the second meeting), it appears that 86% of attendees of the Los Alamos listening sessions support a transfer of the Valles Caldera to National Park Service stewardship.
