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

[PHOTO: Pueblo of Jemez Governor Joshua Madalena testifies before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee today. From committee web broadcast]

The future of the scenic crown jewel of New Mexico was publicly discussed in Washington, D.C., today, as Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) presided over a meeting of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee examining the Valles Caldera National Preserve Management Act (S.3452), which would transfer the Caldera to the National Park Service. During the hearing, eight individuals who represent significant stakeholders in Northern New Mexico offered testimony regarding their positions on the legislation.

The Albuquerque Journal reported that the bill “earned widespread support” at the hearing. Click here to read the Journal article — nonsubscribers must click on the “trial access pass” button to read it. You can also watch a report on the hearing by KOAT-TV by clicking here.

Four of the eight witnesses expressed unqualified support for the legislation (Sen. Tom Udall, Los Alamos County Council Chairman Michael Wismer, New Mexico Wildlife Federation Executive Director Jeremy Vesbach, and National Park Service Deputy Director Daniel Wenk). Two witnesses — the governors of the Pueblo of Jemez (Joshua Madalena) and Pueblo of Santa Clara (Walter Dasheno) — offered conditional support for the bill. The two other witnesses, Valles Caldera Trust Chairman Stephen Henry and Harris Sherman, the Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment (the official in charge of the U.S. Forest Service), did not express support.

The conditional backing offered by the pueblos during the hearing is significant because as recently as January, Jemez Pueblo Gov. Joshua Madalena publicly opposed transferring management from the Valles Caldera Trust.

A synopsis of each witness’ oral and written testimony follows, in order of appearance. Click on the name of a witness in order to download his prepared remarks.

Continue reading ‘Senate committee hears testimony on legislation to bring Caldera into Park Service; pueblos offer conditional support’

Due to the U.S. Senate’s memorial service planned in honor of West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd on Thursday, the hearing of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee to receive testimony about legislation to convert the Valles Caldera into a National Park Preserve has been moved to tomorrow (Wed.), June 30 at 12:30 PM MDT.

You can watch the hearing live by clicking here.

Albuquerque’s ABC affiliate, KOAT-TV, filed a report today on this upcoming hearing, stating that “fireworks are expected in Washington Wednesday when the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee discusses the future of the Valles Caldera National Preserve.” Click here to watch this report.

The committee also released an updated witness list for the hearing. One change from the prior witness list is that Sen. Tom Udall is now scheduled to testify, replacing Barbara Johnson, the vice chair of Los Amigos de Valles Caldera. Here is the latest witness list:

Panel 1
The Honorable Tom Udall, U.S. Senate

Panel 2
Daniel Wenk, Deputy Director, National Park Service, Department of the Interior
The Honorable Harris Sherman, Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment, Department of Agriculture
Stephen Henry, Chairman, Valles Caldera Trust

Panel 3
The Honorable Joshua Madalena, Governor, Pueblo of Jemez
The Honorable Walter Dasheno, Governor, Pueblo of Santa Clara
The Honorable Michael Wismer, Chair, Los Alamos County Council
Jeremy Vesbach, Director, New Mexico Wildlife Federation

The Santa Fe New Mexican published the following letter to the editor today by Rudy Rios of Placitas, who opposes the Valles Caldera National Preserve Management Act, which would transfer the Preserve to the National Park Service:

Trust in the trust

Regarding recent comments concerning the Valles Caldera Trust and its alleged elitism and restrictive public-access policies: The Valles Caldera Trust has had some bumps, but it has fulfilled its role as a working ranch and has provided access with educational workshops, seminars and van tours that cover subjects including archaeology, botany, ecology, geology, history and wildlife.

The Valles Caldera has become, in a very short period of time, an outstanding example of sustainable government management of public lands.

On the other hand, the National Park Service, which some say should now manage the Valles Caldera, has at times alienated and polarized the Native American community. The Valles Caldera Trust has managed what was once a private preserve as a very public entity that respects the multi-culturalism of New Mexico. Turning this to the National Park Service is not the best management direction.

Rudy Ríos
Placitas

Several letters to the editor have been printed this month in the Santa Fe New Mexican in support of the Valles Caldera National Preserve Management Act, the legislation introduced by New Mexico’s U.S. Senators last month that would transfer the Valles Caldera to the National Park Service.

As far as can be determined, there have been no letters to the editor printed in any New Mexico newspapers that oppose this bill.

The three letters below, printed on June 17 and June 18, were written in response to Courtney White’s June 12 op-ed, “A step back for Valles Caldera.”

In the right hands

Regarding the June 13 My View, “A step back for Valles Caldera,” by Courtney White: While I admire Mr. White, I disagree with his view regarding the Valles Caldera management; it smacked of elitism.

Direct and personal experience in the outdoors is the best way for anyone to sufficiently understand the magic and wonder of nature and to come to want to protect it. Increased access to, as well as the restoration and protection of, the Valles Caldera National Preserve under management of the National Park Service would fulfill not only its mandate to protect our public treasure but, as importantly in my mind, it would address the other mandate — to educate through recreation.

Common folk come to NPS units: The cost is not prohibitive and the opportunities for recreation are not only healthy but informative. I applaud our U.S. senators for their efforts to place the Valles Caldera in the hands of our National Park Service for all our enjoyment and to provide true protection of the resource.

Susan Tixier
Embudo

Make it a national park

When we think of America’s national parks, words that come to mind are: timeless, incomparable, archetypal, primal, vast, spiritual, essential. They have shaped us in ways that are difficult to fully catalog. They represent landscape that has survived political impulse that inevitably subjugates and destroys.

How odd, then, to read Courtney White’s June 13 My View, “A step back for Valles Caldera,” in which he asserts that the 19th-century national park concept is not “well suited” to the modern era, and that somehow “global challenges” have negated their value.

To the contrary: As growth exacts more and deeper impact on open spaces, forests, grasslands and rivers, we need parks more than ever.

We should redouble our efforts to realize the full vision of John Muir and others, and to establish more of them, expand them, protect them better, experience them more intimately, make them a larger part of our collective understanding of what we ought not to lose.

Bernard and Dawn Foy
Santa Fe

 

Courtney White’s June 13 My View, “A step back for Valles Caldera,” objects to the legislation proposed by Sens. Jeff Bingaman and Tom Udall to transfer management of the Valles Caldera National Preserve to the National Park Service. Most egregiously, he says that “America’s best idea,” our magnificent system of national parks, is “obsolete.” Few Americans would agree.

Although he cites no particular successes, he feels the trust management “experiment” should continue, and then he raises the possibility that hunting opportunities might be restricted.

However, the legislation directs that hunting “shall” be allowed, a strong guarantee of future opportunities.

More importantly, he ignores the many benefits of Park Service management in terms of public access, protection, and almost 100 years of experience managing a wide variety of landscapes, specializing in scientifically based land- and visitor-management services.

We should thank our senators for their recognition that the experiment has failed.

It is time to pass this legislation and move on.

Tom Jervis
Santa Fe

On Tuesday, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson sent a letter to Senators Jeff Bingaman and Tom Udall expressing his support for the legislation introduced in Congress last month that would give control of the Valles Caldera to the National Park Service. Click here to read the press release announcing Gov. Richardson’s support for the legislation, and click here to read the Associated Press story on this announcement.

In his letter, the governor wrote: “I appreciate the good work of the Board Members of the Valles Caldera Trust and the Preserve staff over the last decade. However, I concur with you that transfer of management to the National Park Service is appropriate for the long-term preservation of the Valles Caldera.”

The letter is included below:

June 22, 2010
….
Dear Senator Bingaman and Senator Udall:

Thank you for your leadership in introducing the Valles Caldera National Preserve Management Act to ensure the long-term protection of one of New Mexico’s most magnificent natural areas. New Mexico’s Valles Caldera is one of only three supervolcanoes in the United States, in the company of Yellowstone, Wyoming and Long Valley, California. The Valles Caldera is home to important tribal and cultural sites as well as natural resources including elk, deer, and other wildlife. Permanently protecting this unusual landscape as a Preserve in out National Park Service system is the right thing to do.

I appreciate the good work of the Board Members of the Valles Caldera Trust and the Preserve staff over the last decade. However, I concur with you that transfer of management to the National Park Service is appropriate for the long-term preservation of the Valles Caldera.

It is critical that activities such as hunting, fishing, and cattle grazing continue to be permitted in the new Preserve, and your bill allows these traditional uses of the land to continue. The state will still have an important role in wildlife management. As this proposal moves forward, I request that your offices and the National Park Service work closely with the State, particularly the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish and State Game Commission, to ensure that traditional uses of this landscape are preserved for future generations.

I encourage timely passage of the Valles Caldera National Preserve Management act.

Sincerely,
Bill Richardson
Governor of New Mexico

The public hearing of the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources to receive testimony on the bill introduced by New Mexico’s U.S. Senators that would transfer management of the Valles Caldera to the National Park Service has been postponed until Thursday, July 1, at 9:30 AM (EDT). The hearing will take place in room 366 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C. (click here for a map to this building).

According to the committee, the following individuals are scheduled to testify:

• The Honorable Harris Sherman, Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment, Department of Agriculture
• Daniel Wenk, Deputy Director, National Park Service, Department of the Interior
• Stephen Henry, Chairman, Valles Caldera Trust
• The Honorable Joshua Madalena, Governor, Pueblo of Jemez
• The Honorable Walter Dasheno, Governor, Pueblo of Santa Clara
• The Honorable Perry Martinez, Governor, Pueblo of San Ildefonso
• The Honorable Michael Wismer, Chair, Los Alamos County Council
• Jeremy Vesbach, Director, New Mexico Wildlife Federation
• Barbara Johnson, Vice Chair, Los Amigos de Valles Caldera

William DeBuys, who from 2001 to 2004 served as the founding chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Valles Caldera National Preserve, wrote an editorial this week on the New West website advocating passage of the legislation introduced by U.S. Senators Jeff Bingaman and Tom Udall that would transfer management of the Valles Caldera to the National Park Service and dissolve the Valles Caldera Trust.

Mr. DeBuys, among whose books is Valles Caldera: A Vision for New Mexico’s National Preserve, wrote this piece in response to this week’s editorial written by Courtney White that was titled “A Step Backward: the Valles Caldera National Park.”  Mr. White’s piece argues against the legislation and questions whether the late Stewart Udall, who served as Secretary of the Interior under presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson (and is the father of Sen. Tom Udall), would have supported the bill that his son co-sponsored.  Click here to read Mr. DeBuys’ piece.

Mr. DeBuys includes some compelling insight, revealing that he visited with Stewart Udall a month before his death in March, and according to Mr. DeBuys, Mr. Udall “expressed deep satisfaction that introduction of the bill was imminent.”

Below is a portion of the editorial, headlined “Valles Caldera: What Would Stewart Udall Think?”

Courtney White has my sympathy. He regrets that the land management “experiment” of the Valles Caldera Trust should be abandoned. I share his regret, but not his conclusion. It is time for all of us to face facts and not entangle the fate of a peerless natural landscape in dreamy notions about “new approaches.” The caldera has been the subject of a new approach for nearly a decade. It hasn’t worked.
…
Lamentably, the complex and conflicted mission with which the Trust was charged has produced paralysis, not synthesis, and the public is understandably frustrated by the conspicuous lack of both progress and access at the preserve.

The trust would have better served its fortunes in recent years by focusing its energies on building a broad public constituency; ultimately, its failure is not that it cannot be self-sufficient in dollars, but that the people it should be serving have failed to care sufficiently about it. As a result, the enormous reservoir of public goodwill with which the Trust started its journey has largely been consumed. Let’s move on.

Mr. White’s assertion that the “national park idea… is not well-suited for the onrushing, global challenges of the 21st century” is nonsense, and it is offensive that he should utter this foolishness in reference to Stewart Udall. If Stewart were still alive, he would be the first to say that the national park idea has proved adaptable and enduring, not least in lands beyond the borders of the United States where the defense of the natural world is led by citizens with sharper vision than Mr. White’s. The national park idea continues to represent one of the best strategies yet devised for protecting the environmental commons against the relentless push to privatize and exploit the earth’s goods.

Making the Valles Caldera National Preserve a unit of the National Park System will assure the protection and effective stewardship of an extraordinary place. New Mexico Senators Bingaman and Udall are demonstrating realism and leadership in championing the necessary legislation. Their bill would permit continued grazing and hunting on the preserve, and it also calls for continuation of the preserve’s science and education program, one of the signal achievements of the Trust’s early years. When I last saw Stewart Udall, about a month before he passed away, he expressed deep satisfaction that introduction of the bill was imminent.