Dear Senator Bingaman:

Caldera Action is a new membership organization that has grown out of the former Valles Caldera Coalition that advocated for the acquisition of the former Baca Ranch and has been interested in the management of the Valles Caldera National Preserve (VCNP) since it became public. Caldera Action advocates for the restoration, protection, and appreciation of the VCNP for the long-term benefit of the public and the ecosystem. We promote extensive public participation in decision-making on the Preserve as an essential means to this end. We incorporated as a nonprofit in New Mexico and recently received notice that we are considered a nonprofit by the Internal Revenue Service under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

Relying on expertise about the VCNP developed by the Valles Caldera Coalition and the experience of many years of interactions with the VCNP staff and trustees, we have submitted comments on the recently released “Draft State of the Preserve: 2002- 2007.” We believe that our comments provide a substantive and significant commentary on the state of the Preserve and would like to share a synopsis of those comments with you. We would be happy to send along our complete comments if you like.

Three major issues stand out:

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Lack of adequate recreational access to the Preserve: The 89,000-acre Preserve was purchased with $101 million of Land and Water Conservation Fund monies, which the L&WCF Act specified go towards acquiring lands for public recreation. The VCNP enabling act specifies that “reasonable” recreation access be provided within two years of passage of the act.

Currently, recreational access is highly structured and does not permit the visitor to experience the sense of wonder that comes from individual discovery in this ecologically and culturally significant landscape. As a result, hiking use, for example, actually declined for the years 2004-2006 (1,069 visitors for 2004, 565 for 2005, and 446 for 2006, respectively). In contrast, adjacent 32,700-acre Bandelier National Monument admits over 250,000 visitors annually. The public is clearly frustrated by the lack of access to the Preserve.

We believe that the Trust should immediately prepare a plan to establish the recreational carrying capacity of the Preserve, taking into account the enabling act’s requirements to protect the Preserve’s natural systems, and open the Preserve for an appropriate level of use and enjoyment by the public whose money purchased this land.

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Failure to develop a realistic comprehensive management plan: The report states in Section 5.4.2, “The comprehensive management program will be largely accomplished with the completion and implementation of forage use, public access and use, and forest and fire management plans.” We believe strongly that three piecemeal management plans do not comprise a comprehensive management program as required by the enabling legislation and as described in the Framework and Strategic Guidance for Comprehensive Management published by the VCNP in 2003.

The idea of having three artificially divided separate plans rather than a comprehensive plan invites conflict and ignores the cumulative effects of VCNP activities. For example, livestock grazing has strong negative effects on water quality and fishing, one of the most popular activities on the Preserve. Yet grazing and fishing will be in separate plans and the interaction between these two uses may thus be difficult to address.

The failure of the VCNP to address its future in a single, comprehensive management plan strikes us as arbitrary, contrary to the long experience of public land managers elsewhere, and not cost-effective.

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Lack of financial disclosure, transparency, and planning with respect to the enabling act’s mandate for financial selfsufficiency: After eight years of operation, and more than half of the original fifteen-year charter already gone, the Trust has yet to provide Congress or the general public with either an accurate accounting of the Preserve’s financial condition or a long-term strategic business management plan that would enable Congress, the public, or even the Trust itself to assess whether or not the goals and objectives set out in the Act are likely to be achieved.

For 2006, according to the most recent financial results available, the VCNP brought in revenue of approximately $800,000, 17.8% of the total budget of $4,400,000. In the three year period from 2004-2006, Congressional appropriations to the Preserve increased by 61%. In that same period, income increased only 54% at a time when visitation should be increasing as programs are developed. Yet a lack of recreation planning has hindered both public access and income for the Preserve and it is difficult to imagine that appropriate levels of access at reasonable fees will remedy this vast budget shortfall in the next seven years. Recreation, including hunting, is the only positive income producing program for the VCNP.

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Further, we note that the VCNP is an orphan in the federal budget process and those critical Congressional appropriations have been uncertain and inadequate to insure basic operations such as law enforcement, legal compliance, and basic facility maintenance and development.

We believe that the statutory requirement to achieve “financial self-sustainability” is probably unrealistic and unachievable given the long experience of public land management in America. Even so, the VCNP Trustees must develop a realistic financial plan even as the public and Congress consider the long-term management of the Preserve beyond the current enabling legislation.

We would welcome the opportunity to discuss our extended comments on the state of the Preserve with you further and request the opportunity to do so at your convenience.

Sincerely,

Tom Ribe, President
Caldera Action
P.O. Box 32373
Santa Fe, NM 87594
tribe@swadventures.com

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By Tom Ribe

From Rio Grande Sierran, July/August 2007

With summer greening the Valles Caldera National Preserve, a new group has formed to advocate for the wild, natural, and cultural values of the Preserve and appropriate public access to this 89,000-acre gem of public land. Our new organization, called Caldera Action!, has a board of directors that includes steering committee members from the former Valles Caldera Coalition. Our 501(c)3 status is pending, and we invite vigorous participation from all who share our awe of and concern for the Valles.

Here are the mission and vision guiding our work:

Vision: Inspired by the majesty of the Valles Caldera, we envision the restoration and protection of its unique natural and cultural heritage, so that present and future generations can experience the sense of wonder that comes from individual discovery in this ecologically and culturally significant landscape.

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Mission: Our organization fosters active citizen participation in the restoration, protection, and appreciation of the Valles Caldera National Preserve, for the long-term benefit of the place itself, the American public, and visitors from around the world.

Meanwhile, the Valles Caldera Trust is finally beginning formal, long-range, preserve-wide resource management planning at the Preserve. Rather than complete a comprehensive plan for the Preserve as many have long advocated, three separate National Environmental Planning (NEPA) processes will occur, led by “Forage Management” (addressing grazing by elk and cattle, and other uses of the grasslands). This will be followed by “Public Access” (addressing recreation, education and research), and “Forestry” (addressing forest and fire management).

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An open house in mid-June launched the forage/ grazing planning process. Anyone interested in elk and cattle at the VCNP can now express their views formally to the Trust’s board and staff. This is a critical opportunity for shaping the troubled cattle program at the Valles as well as elk management. We now have a chance to address serious water-quality and woodyplant reproduction problems at the Preserve as well as economic aspects of cattle grazing. Contact the Trust’s Natural Resources Coordinator Marie Rodriguez (661-3333, mrodriguez@vallescaldera.gov), the public outreach coordinator for Public Access planning specifically (mary@maryorton.com), or our organization (info@vcc.org).

Three new trustees officially joined the Valles Board of Trustees at a public meeting in mid-June in Los Alamos. Appointed by President Bush, they are Stephen Henry (Fish, Wildlife and Recreation), James D. Range (Conservation), and Edward R.Tinsley (Financial Management). The next public board meetings are scheduled for September 6 in Jemez Springs and December 11 in Santa Fe. These meetings offer opportunity for direct public comment and oversight. For more information, contact Tom Ribe, President of the Caldera Action! organization (690-0305), and Vice President Tom Jervis (info@vcc.org).

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