Valles Caldera National Preserve

Valles Caldera National Preserve
IUCN category V (protected landscape/seascape)
Valles Caldera
Location	Sandoval and Rio Arriba counties, New Mexico, United States
Nearest city	Los Alamos, NM
Coordinates	35°54′00″N 106°31′59″W / 35.9°N 106.533°W / 35.9; -106.533[1]Coordinates: 35°54′00″N 106°31′59″W / 35.9°N 106.533°W / 35.9; -106.533[2]
Area	89,216 acres (36,104 ha)
Established	July 25, 2000
Governing body	National Park Service
Website	Valles Caldera National Preserve
U.S. National Natural Landmark
Designated	1975

The Valles Caldera National Preserve is a national preserve located in northeastern Sandoval County and southern Rio Arriba County, just west of Los Alamos. It protects a large portion of the Valles Caldera, an area of significant geological, ecological and cultural interest. It has a land area of 89,216 acres (139.400 sq mi; 361.04 km²) and until 2015 was administered by the Valles Caldera Trust with offices in Jemez Springs.^[3] In 2014 legislation attached to the Defense Authorization Act authorized the transfer of the preserve to the National Park Service and dissolution of the Valles Caldera Trust.^[4] The transfer to NPS management took place on October 10, 2015.^[5]

Background

The Valles Caldera Preservation Act of 2000 signed by President Clinton on July 25, 2000, created the Valles Caldera National Preserve (VCNP).^[6] The legislation provided for the federal purchase of the land, previously the privately held Baca ranch. The surface estate of 95,000 acres (380 km²) and seven-eighths of the geothermal mineral estate were purchased by the federal government for $101 million. Funds for the purchase were obtained through the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) from federal government royalties received from offshore petroleum and natural gas drilling.^[7] Some areas of the Baca Ranch are of cultural significance to Native Americans. Accordingly, 5,000 acres (20 km²) of the purchase were obtained by the Santa Clara Pueblo, which borders the property to the northeast. These include the headwaters of Santa Clara Creek, considered sacred by the Pueblo.^[7][8] On the southwest corner of the land 300 acres (1.2 km²) were to be ceded to Bandelier National Monument.

The Baca Ranch had possessed a mixed range of tree species and significant biodiversity. At the time of the purchase, the ranch was home to 40 miles (64 km) of "pristine" trout streams, 66,118 acres (26,757 ha) of conifer forest, 17 endangered plant and animal species and 25,000 acres (10,000 ha) of grassland grazed by 8,000 elk, New Mexico's largest herd. The preserve is encircled by federal lands, including the Santa Fe National Forest, the Jemez National Recreation Area and the Bandelier National Monument.^[7]

The Preservation Act of 2000 also created the Valles Caldera Trust, an experimental management organization consisting of nine board members including seven appointed by the President of the United States.^[9] The Trust combined private-sector practices with federal land management protocol. Under the terms of the Preservation Act, the preserve was to become self-sufficient financially by 2015. The experiment has been controversial. In 2010 the Trust admitted that it would be unable to achieve financial self-sufficiency, having raised only about $850,000 of the $3 million needed to manage the property each year.

Environmentalists had lobbied for the more inclusive protections of National Park status instead of the Trust model, but then-Senator Pete Domenici insisted on the experimental approach as a condition for his support for public purchase. US Senator Jeff Bingaman introduced Senate bills that would transfer the property to the National Park Service as a Preserve (the NPS manages 18 other Preserves around the United States). The 2011 bill was officially supported by the VCNP trustees and a majority of New Mexico's Congressional delegation. On October 1, 2015 the Valles trust property was transferred to Federal management under the National Park Service, continuing as Valles Caldera National Preserve.^[5]

On October 10, the preserve was officially dedicated.

References