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

Noting that the Valles Caldera National Preserve “is facing significant challenges in the areas of financial self-sustainability and balancing public access with resource preservation,” the County of Los Alamos has scheduled two public town hall meetings in March to gather input from members of the community regarding the proposal by Sens. Bingaman and Udall to transform the Valles Caldera National Preserve into a National Park Preserve (as was first reported today in the blog “Los Alamos County Views“). According to the County of Los Alamos, “both sessions will start with an overview from National Park Service representatives, followed by comments from the public.”  The County’s release also notes that input collected from these meetings will contribute to whether the County Council adopts a resolution in support of the National Park Preserve proposal.

The County is also soliciting comments regarding this proposal via email and U.S. Mail — contact information can be found in the press release below.

The public events will be held on:

1. Thursday, March 4, 2010 at Fuller Lodge, 5:30-7:00 p.m., and
2. Tuesday, March 9, 2010 in White Rock Town Hall, 5:30-7:00 p.m.

Below is the entire press release from Los Alamos County (click here to read this press release on the County’s web site)

Two March Listening Sessions Set Regarding the Valles Caldera

The Council wants to hear from you!

The Valles Caldera National Preserve (VCNP) is facing significant challenges in the areas of financial self-sustainability and balancing public access with resource preservation. At its February 2nd meeting, the County Council considered a resolution to support having the National Park Service acquire, develop, maintain and operate the VCNP. At the same meeting, the Valles Caldera Trust also presented their proposal for the VCNP.

According to the County’s sources in Washington, D.C., Congress is taking a hard look at the progress the Valles Caldera Trust has made during the last decade and is expected to make a decision regarding the VCNP’s management later this spring. Options being considered include:

1. The National Park Service. For information regarding the National Park Service’s report on the VCNP, go to www.vallescaldera.com to access a copy of the NPS report (upper right hand column), and other pro-NPS materials, including articles about and interviews with Senators Udall and Bingaman and other background information.

2. The Valles Caldera Trust. For information about the Valles Caldera Trust, including their 2009 Report to Congress FY2009 requesting to retain management responsibilities with changes to legislation, go to www.vallescaldera.gov, and click on “News Media.” Also, video of the Trust’s February 2nd presentation to Council can be accessed via Video on Demand available on the PAC 8 webpage.

3. The National Forest Service. Although no formal statement has been issued regarding the National Forest Service, you may go to www.fs.fed.us to access information about the Forest Service.

Comments may be submitted to the County using the following methods:

E-mail: kelly.stewart@lacnm.us
Mail: Kelly Stewart, Los Alamos County, 133 Central Park Square, Los Alamos, NM 87544

Meeting: The public is invited to attend the following listening sessions:

Thursday, March 4, 2010 at Fuller Lodge, 5:30-7:00 p.m.
and
Tuesday, March 9, 2010 in White Rock Town Hall, 5:30-7:00 p.m.

Both sessions will start with an overview from National Park Service representatives, followed by comments from the public. Public comment closes Sunday, March 14, 2010.

Please continue to check this webpage for updated information regarding the VCNP management process.

Contact Information
Marketing Specialist
Kelly Stewart
Communications & Public Relations
662-8087
kelly.stewart@lacnm.us

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.”

The next public meeting of the Valles Caldera National Preserve’s Board of Trustees will take place on Wednesday, Jan. 27, at the Jemez Pueblo Community Resource Center, at 129 B Canal St., from 9 am to noon (click here for a map to the meeting).

The Valles Caldera Preservation Act of 2000 requires that the Board of Trustees (the “Trust”) conduct at least three public meetings per year.

Unfortunately, the Trust has once again decided to schedule another legally-mandated public meeting on a weekday, during business hours.

Only once since April of 2006 have the managers of the Preserve elected to hold a public meeting of the Board of Trustees after business hours, according to the Preserve’s website.

This presents a hardship to the working public who would like to attend these meetings in order to learn more about the management of their Preserve and convey their opinions face-to-face about the future direction of the Caldera with those who have been appointed by the President of the United States to provide stewardship over this taxpayer-owned scenic treasure of Northern New Mexico.

The only time in the past three-and-a-half years that the Trust has chosen to meet after business hours was in June of 2009, when it met from 6-9 PM in Los Alamos. According to an account in the Los Alamos Monitor, this meeting was “standing-room only.” At the time, VallesCaldera.com applauded the Trust for scheduling this meeting at a time convenient to the working public.

In contrast, the most recent meeting, held in Las Cruces (more than 300 miles and a five hour, 20 minute drive from the entrance to the Valles Caldera National Preserve — see map) on a Tuesday morning, was attended by about four members of the public.

To be fair, Preserve staff did hold two evening public meetings last September, in Albuquerque and Santa Fe, designed to solicit input regarding the Trust’s alternatives for possible commercial development on the Preserve. However, these were not meetings of the Board of Trustees and as such did not provide the opportunity for the public to personally interact with the official managers of the Preserve.

The recent National Park Service report on the Valles Caldera noted that the Preserve only permits a “limited level of public access” with activities scheduled at times that are “inconvenient for many” (p. 15). This assessment could just as fairly be applied to the manner in which meetings of the Board of Trustees are scheduled.

During this controversial time in the history of the Preserve, in which our Congressional delegation is considering modifying the legislative framework governing the management of this taxpayer-owned land, it is not time for the Board of Trustees to hide from the public. It is time for open communication between the public, preserve management, and our elected representatives, at times and locations convenient to those who live within the vicinity of the Caldera.

With this in mind, two of the three additional meetings of the Board of Trustees planned for 2010 are an unreasonable distance from the Valles Caldera.  The remaining meetings for this year are as follows:

May 13, 2010 — Farmington (181 miles from the VCNP, a 4 hour and 34 minute drive — see map)
July 21, 2010 — Jemez Springs
Sept. 29, 2010 — Roswell (242 miles from the VCNP, a 5 hour and 52 minute drive — see map)

VallesCaldera.com highly encourages the Board of Trustees to schedule their public meetings in the evening or on weekends, in locations that are a reasonable distance from the Valles Caldera, in order to demonstrate a good-faith effort to include taxpayers in management decisions that will impact the scenic crown jewel of Northern New Mexico for generations.

The Valles Caldera National Preserve has announced that the next public meeting of the Valles Caldera National Preserve Board of Trustees will be held on January 27th at Jemez Pueblo. The exact location and time have yet to be announced. The dates and host towns for the remaining Trust meetings of 2010 have also been disclosed:

May 13 – Farmington
July 21 – Jemez Springs (Valles Caldera National Preserve administrative offices)
Sept. 29 – Roswell

In June, Senators Jeff Bingaman and Tom Udall (D-NM) asked the National Park Service to prepare a reconnaissance study assessing the feasibility of including the Valles Caldera as part of the National Park System and operating it as a National Park Service preserve.  This report has been identified by Sen. Udall as a tool that that will help the New Mexico Congressional Delegation “take stock of where we are today” as a precursor for determining “the options in the future” regarding management possibilities for the Caldera.

According to a source close to this report in the National Park Service, the release of the study, which was drafted by officials in the Denver office of the NPS, is “getting pretty close.”  The source said that a draft of the report was completed in mid-October, and is currently “being refined and corrected” as a result of a second level of review that is being conducted by officials in Washington, D.C.

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The Valles Caldera National Preserve has been selected to host the 2010 National 4-H Wildlife Habitat Evaluation Program (WHEP) Invitational next summer.  According to the Preserve, more than 100 children and adults will gather in the Caldera for education and competition during the five-day event.  The WHEP is “dedicated to teaching wildlife and fisheries habitat management to youth in the United States.”

The participants in the event, which will be held from July 25 to July 29, will be housed at the Hilltop House Hotel in Los Alamos, rather than at the Preserve’s new Science and Education Center in Jemez Springs, which the Preserve is spending $111,000 annually to lease.

An audio recording of the most recent public meeting of the Valles Caldera Trust is now available at VallesCaldera.com.  Click here to listen to this meeting in its entirety, and see below for a detailed overview of the meeting.

VallesCaldera.com will endeavor to provide online access to audio recordings of all future public meetings of the Board of Trustees of the Valles Caldera National Preserve.  Until this point, such recordings have never before been made available online to the public.

Among the developments from the meeting, which was conducted on Sept. 29, 2009 in Las Cruces, it was revealed that Preserve management is now in possession of a draft copy of a Government Accountability Office audit of the Valles Caldera Trust.  This audit has been mentioned by Sen. Tom Udall as a tool that that will help the New Mexico Congressional Delegation “take stock of where we are today” as a precursor for determining “the options in the future” regarding management possibilities for the Valles Caldera.  The GAO audit (the contents of which the Trust could not reveal) should be released to Congress on Oct. 31, according to Trust Chairman Stephen Henry.

Additionally, it was disclosed that Trust management has established a maximum potential total capacity of the Valles Caldera National Preserve during its summer recreation season of 23,000 visitor-days (which is the amount of total days that each visitor could spend on the Preserve. For example, one person visiting for three days as well as three people visiting for one day would both yield three visitor days). For the sake of comparison, the Preserve’s neighboring Bandelier National Monument hosted 243,765 visitors in 2006, which is more than ten times this amount (the most recent official figures provided by the Trust to Congress show that 15,000 people visited the Preserve in 2008). A Preserve representative stated that maximum visitor capacity would generate $865,000 (which is 20.2% of the most recent estimation provided to Congress of total annual Preserve expenditures of $4,278,508).

The meeting also featured an extensive presentation on the impact of grazing on the riparian areas of the Caldera, with a detailed discussion about the overall health of the two main Caldera watersheds.  Dr. Colleen Caldwell, who performed the presentation, declared that the Valles Caldera is home to “the greatest density of salmonids seen in the intermountain West” and that the lower East Fork of the Jemez River “would be a wonderful place” to reintroduce the Rio Grande Cutthroat Trout (see this detailed U.S. Forest Service report on the Cutthroat in PDF).  She also advised that some streambank restoration work on the East Fork needs to take place in order to maximize the health of that river and its population of fish.

A compilation of the highlights of the meeting is as follows.  Each highlight is preceded by the timestamp for the point on the recording that the discussion or quote takes place.

1:27 — Chairman Stephen Henry stated that the Board of Trustees of the Valles Caldera National Preserve is “not governed by the Open Meetings Act.”

1:42 — Henry mentioned that the Trust has received a draft of an audit of the Valles Caldera National Preserve that has been conducted by the Government Accountability Office.  He stated that the Trust is preparing a response, but is not permitted to discuss the findings of the audit until it is officially released.  The GAO will submit the report to relevant Congressional committees on Oct. 31, 2009.

4:15 — Henry stated that he was reelected by the board of Trustees to be its chairman “for however long, if and when the Trust continues to exist.”  Ed Tinsley will remain vice-chair of the Trust.

Continue reading ‘Audio from most recent Trust meeting now available here; GAO audit of Trust to be released Oct. 31; maximum summer capacity at Preserve set at 23,000 visitor days’

Non-profit advocacy group Caldera Action issued a press release last week announcing the conclusion of an analysis of public comments from four workshops conducted in 2007 by the Valles Caldera Trust to gather input from members of the public regarding the future of the Valles Caldera National Preserve. According to Caldera Action, the Valles Caldera Trust is overlooking the opinion of the 95% of public comments that opposed revenue-driven development of the Preserve.

In 2007, four public meetings were held in separate locations throughout New Mexico to gather public opinion about future management of the Valles Caldera National Preserve. A consulting firm was paid approximately $150,000 by the Trust to conduct the meetings and prepare a compilation of the public comments.

However, Caldera Action said that the final report contained no analysis of the comments, with the comments themselves simply having been listed. “In December 2007, at a public meeting of the Valles Caldera Trust, several members of the public questioned why the report contained no analysis of the data,” Caldera Action stated in the release. “The response was that the contractor [Mary Orton Company] had been directed to supply data only. The Trustees provided no further explanation and indicated that no additional analysis was planned.”

Given the new round of public meetings held in Albuquerque and Santa Fe last month to gather public opinion about five possible alternatives for future access and use of the Valles Caldera National Preserve, Caldera Action performed its own analysis of the comments gathered by the Valles Caldera Trust in 2007. According to the group:

The analysis shows that more than 95% of the 154 comments received at the 2007 public meetings favored natural, undeveloped, wild conditions and values at the VCNP. Yet the VCNP Trust’s current “Access and Use” planning alternatives all tilt strongly toward heavy development of the VCNP including new roads, RV parks, hotels, gift shops, parking lots, etc.

“It is clear from the statistics that the overwhelming desire of the attendees of the 2007 public meetings was that the Preserve should be managed to retain its natural features and to preserve its natural state—as it exists today.” said the study’s two authors, Betsy Barnett and Dave Meniccuci. “So few comments favored commercialization that they were all grouped in the “other” categories (4.5%) along with similarly disparate comments.”

Tom Ribe, Executive Director of Caldera Action, questioned the focus on development in the Trust’s five public access and use alternatives, given the evident opposition to this in public opinion from 2007. “Revenue driven development plans, disconnected from public vision and desires could lead to inappropriate and environmentally damaging construction,” Ribe said.

The group also called for the creation of the comprehensive management program that the federal Valles Caldera Preservation Act of 2000 requires:

Caldera Action is also troubled that the Trust has never developed the comprehensive management program (plan) mandated by Congress in the 2000 legislation establishing the VCNP. Without a comprehensive plan the current access and use planning process is disconnected from other plans, could conflict with key cultural and environmental values at the Preserve and could result in environmental damage, public expense, and legal problems. The courts have challenged such haphazard planning in the past. Caldera Action is calling on the VCNP Trust to suspend its access and use planning process until a comprehensive management plan is completed.

Caldera Action has also expressed its support for the National Park Service to assume management of the Valles Caldera as a National Park Preserve.

The Board of Trustees of the Valles Caldera National Preserve will conduct a public meeting Tuesday morning at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces at 9:00 am.  According to the Valles Caldera Preservation Act of 2000, the Board must hold public meetings at least three times per year.

The last public meeting of the Board of Trustees, held in the evening this past June in Los Alamos, represented the first time in more than three years that the Board had met in public outside of business hours. This decision enhanced the ability of the working New Mexican to attend and voice his or her opinions on the future of the Valles Caldera National Preserve to the Trustees of the people’s land, and the June meeting was heavily attended.

However, this week’s meeting, planned for 9:00 on a Tuesday morning, represents a return to the Trustees’ three-year pattern of holding their public meetings during working hours.

WHAT: Public meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Valles Caldera National Preserve
WHERE: New Mexico State University, Corbett Center, Student Senate Chambers (get directions here)
WHEN: Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2009, 9:00 AM

AGENDA:

9:00 AM Welcome and Introductions – Board Business
• Call to order
• Explanation of public meeting requirements
• Announce results of BOT election effective 10/1/09
• Approval of June 11, 2009 Public Meeting Minutes
• Approval of Agenda
• Authorize Future Executive Sessions
• Approval of 2010 Budget

9:30 AM Presentation of programs in collaboration with NMSU
• High elevation breeding stock program – Dr. Chris Allison
• Ungulate grazing on riparian ecosystems – Dr. Colleen Caldwell
• WHEP Program – Ms. Summer Eaton/Dr. Samuel Smallidge
• Website design for VCT – MBA Candidates – Dr. Kevin Boberg

10:00 AM Report to Board of Trustees on Programs and Activities 2009-2010
• Preserve Operations – Mr. Dennis Trujillo, General Manager
• Science and Education – Dr. Robert Parmenter – Director Science and Education

12:00 Adjourn

PUBLIC COMMENT OPPORTUNITY

1:00 – 2:00 PUBLIC COMMENT SESSION

Approximately 15-20 members of the public attended a workshop in Albuquerque on Monday to discuss access and development options on the Valles Caldera National Preserve. During this meeting, which was conducted by Preserve staff and consultants, there was little support expressed for any of the five development options under consideration by the Valles Caldera Trust. Additionally, no audience member raised their hand when asked if they support the mandate of the Valles Caldera Preservation Act of 2000 that the Preserve be financially self-sufficient.

The first hour of the workshop consisted of an informal meet-and-greet, in which members of the public were able to chat with Preserve staff and consultants, and examine various displays and maps that corresponded with the five alternatives to develop the Preserve that have been proposed by Houston-based environmental consulting firm ENTRIX. These options, which have been reported here, include new trails, picnic areas, campgrounds, roads, RV parks, luxury lodges, observatories, bars, snack bars, food service stations, a conference center, new staff housing, a new administrative center, and “a full service science and education center and campus.”

After the meet-and-greet, the event entered what a Trust consultant characterized as a “speed-dating format,” which featured three 30-minute rounds. For each round, members of the public were invited to choose between two tables — at each table one of the following six topics having to do with future development on the Preserve was explored: access, capacity, activities, development, financing, and values. In this manner, all six topics were covered in 90 minutes, albeit with each member of the public only able to participate in one-half of the designated topics.

There was little support expressed for any of the ENTRIX proposals, and many attendees spoke strongly against commercial development.  And when a Preserve consultant asked the audience if anyone present was in favor of continuing to mandate that the Valles Caldera National Preserve be financially self-sustaining, no one raised their hand.

Staff assured the public that their comments would be entered into the Preserve’s official record; when these are released those who did not attend will be able to read all of the comments given by the public at these meetings.

For those who did not attend the two meetings this week and were not able to have their comments entered into the official record, you will be able to comment upon the five development options being considered by the Trust online at their public access and scoping web site. These comments, according to a Trust consultant, are due by October 15.

The next public meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Valles Caldera National Preserve will be held in Las Cruces on Tuesday, Sept. 29, at the Student Senate Chambers of New Mexico State University’s Corbett Center, at 9:00 AM.

Staff from the Valles Caldera National Preserve will be conducting two public workshops in Albuquerque and Santa Fe on Monday and Tuesday, Sept. 14 and 15, at 5:30 PM, to gather feedback on various alternatives for future public access and development on the Preserve.

Five alternatives were unveiled to the public online last month, which include new trails, picnic areas, campgrounds, roads, RV parks, luxury lodges (rooms for which could go for between $550 and $730 per night), observatories, bars, snack bars, food service stations, a conference center, new staff housing, a new administrative center, and “a full service science and education center and campus.”

The first hour of each event will consist of “an open house where you can learn about the elements involved in public access and use planning and visit with staff and experts,” according to the Valles Caldera Trust. After the first hour, “a series of small group discussions” will begin. Details of these meetings are as follows:

Mon., Sept. 14, 2009, Hilton Garden Inn, 5320 San Antonio Dr NE, Albuquerque, 5:30-8:00 PM
Tues., Sept. 15, 2009, Santa Fe Community College, 6401 S Richards Ave, Santa Fe, 5:30-8:00 PM