Many try to shape Valles Caldera’s future

The National Park Service has a challenging task ahead as it transitions into management of the sweeping 88,900-acre Valles Caldera landscape in the Jemez Mountains.Just how challenging became clear this past week as hundreds of hunters and cattlemen, anglers and equestrians, and other outdoor enthusiasts from across New Mexico voiced competing interests in the future of the Valles Caldera Natural Preserve during a series of public meetings across the state. Tom Ribe attended the sessions in Jemez Springs and Los Alamos as executive director of the citizen group Caldera Action. He said he was amazed by the level of public engagement. Others wanted to be sure people with impaired mobility will have opportunities to access the caldera’s wilderness. One person even urged the government to build a new highway through the preserve to create a more direct route from Cuba, N.M., to Los Alamos. “Some activities like hiking and cross-country skiing aren’t that destructive, but others have a really big impact,” said Ribe, adding he was encouraged by Park Service officials’ assurances that their management approach would include strong law enforcement presence to keep out wayward cattle and tresspassing dirt bikers. Caldera Action members spent years advocating for National Park Service management, Ribe said, “because we wanted it to be preserved and protected and not just treated like a piece of multiple-use land where you have off-road vehicles and cows and litter..."...more

You can see what the folks in northern NM are in for.  Limited access in general and a slow phasing out of most hunting and grazing.  Yes, I know the legislation says there "shall" be grazing, but it also says, "at levels and locations determined by the Secretary to be appropriate."   Read NPS policy on it's website and you'll find this:  "The Service will phase out the commercial grazing of livestock whenever possible and manage recreational and administrative uses of livestock to prevent those uses from unacceptably impacting park resources."  Apply the general policy to the legislative language, and if you are seeking "commercial" livestock grazing, forget it.  The whole thing is being set up to allow grazing for the "interpretation of the ranching history of the Preserve", and that will probably mean NPS cows managed by NPS employees.  Similar limitations are placed upon hunting and trapping.

Does anyone consider the NPS to be pro-hunting?  Pro-grazing?  Not exactly.

A huge preserve has been set aside for the elite to camp, hike and convene with nature.  The traditional uses made by the folks native to the area will be eliminated over time.  That, I'm afraid, will be the final outcome of this Udall/Heinrich legislation.