Last week, the Los Alamos Monitor summarized the tenor of the two public listening sessions held this month in Los Alamos regarding the proposal for National Park Service management of the Valles Caldera National Preserve. The article, headlined “Residents prefer park service: Public wants ease of access,” can be read by clicking here. A portion of the article is included below:
Fences may make good neighbors, to paraphrase poet Robert Frost, but in the case of Los Alamos and one of its largest neighbors, the problem isn’t the fences. It’s how to get through the gates more easily.
That was one main conclusion after a council session and a couple of public meetings over the last few weeks on the subject of managing the Valles Caldera National Preserve.
“People are very concerned about lack of access to the preserve,” said Councilor Nona Bowman, one of the councilors who participated in public meetings on March 4 and March 9. “They want to go when they want to go, not have to make reservations so far ahead,”
One of the points that came out this week in White Rock, she said, is that, “The preserve has not taken into consideration that limiting access is not treating the taxpaying public fairly.”
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“Most of the folks appeared to be in favor of the National Park Service taking over the management,” said Councilor Ralph Phelps, who volunteered along with Bowman to monitor the listening sessions.“Most people thought the parks service would provide better access to the public and be better and able to establish trail systems and make better use of the property for things like hiking, biking and snowshoeing in the winter.”
He said it also came out that of two kinds of park service entities, the public preferred what is called a preserve, rather than a park or monument, mainly because hunting would be allowed in the preserve rather than the park.
