Trustees who oversee the Valles Caldera National Preserve are acknowledging that becoming financially self-sufficient is a challenge to every aspect of managing the former Northern New Mexico cattle ranch. The trustees said in a report to Congress they may have to request funding for maintenance of existing facilities, to meet requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act and for possible new facilities to support public programs on the preserve. "It is our opinion that without adequate infrastructure, the trust will not be able to meet the financial self-sufficient mandate of the (Valles Caldera Preservation) Act," Gary Bratcher, the preserve's executive director, wrote in the report's cover letter. Purchased by the federal government in 2000 for $101 million, the 89,000-acre former cattle ranch is known for its meadows, streams, forests, volcanic domes and huge elk herds. The preserve is managed not by a federal agency, but by the trustees. It's an experiment in the way public lands are managed — only the Presidio in San Francisco, a military base-turned-park, has a similar governance....Most groups and agencies don't want this concept to work, and are making sure it doesn't.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Valles Caldera trustees warn preserve may need cash
Trustees who oversee the Valles Caldera National Preserve are acknowledging that becoming financially self-sufficient is a challenge to every aspect of managing the former Northern New Mexico cattle ranch. The trustees said in a report to Congress they may have to request funding for maintenance of existing facilities, to meet requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act and for possible new facilities to support public programs on the preserve. "It is our opinion that without adequate infrastructure, the trust will not be able to meet the financial self-sufficient mandate of the (Valles Caldera Preservation) Act," Gary Bratcher, the preserve's executive director, wrote in the report's cover letter. Purchased by the federal government in 2000 for $101 million, the 89,000-acre former cattle ranch is known for its meadows, streams, forests, volcanic domes and huge elk herds. The preserve is managed not by a federal agency, but by the trustees. It's an experiment in the way public lands are managed — only the Presidio in San Francisco, a military base-turned-park, has a similar governance....Most groups and agencies don't want this concept to work, and are making sure it doesn't.
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If the "Public Lands in Private Hands" concepts works then the Valles Caldera National Preserve becomes a well-to-do hunting preserve primarily with a few carefully controlled general public access opportunities. No, this "experiment" is a gross misuse of public lands. We have to stop this insanity now. The 1920's are over and we shouldn't be trying to bring them back to them. The collapse of our economy is one symptom of this type of thinking. America deserves better then a private hunting club for the rich and famous!
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