The Valles Caldera is one of the most beautiful places in America. For 10 years however, the administration of the National Preserve has become one of continually unfulfilled expectations. Two weeks ago, Joey Peters of Santa Fe Reporter had an excellent report on the political morass that binds this extraordinary piece of land, Burned Ambition. I highly recommend the article, but here’s a brief excerpt:
The Valles Caldera National Preserve was established in 2000 in a class of its own; no other wilderness area in the United States is run like it. Created as an experiment, it’s essentially a public park operated with a private mentality. A presidentially appointed board of trustees operates the land. The trustees work closely with the US Forest Service, which also manages the nearby Santa Fe National Forest. The board’s goal is to make the caldera financially self-sustainable without excluding the public from the wilderness area.
But in its 11 years as a public park, Valles Caldera is nowhere near on track to meet its 2015 deadline of financial self-sustainability. In fiscal year 2010—one of the trust’s better years to date—the caldera recovered just over $700,000 of its $3.5 million in operating costs.
For the public, accessing the caldera has proven restrictive and costly, prompting nearby residents and interest groups to push for a change in management. But the aftermath of the Las Conchas fire, which charred 30,000 acres of the preserve—along with several square miles of the surrounding land—now further complicates the caldera’s already uncertain future.
Five years ago the Preserve had a rare public day, and even that mixed disaster and joy. I posted this at the time.
NewMexiKen has written about the Valles Caldera previously. The Valle Grande alone, just the one-fourth of the Preserve that’s visible from New Mexico Highway 4, is magnificent.
As Scott Momaday wrote in House Made of Dawn:
Of all the places that he knew, this valley alone could reflect the great spatial majesty of the sky. It scooped out of the dark peaks like the well of a great, gathering storm, deep umber and blue and smoke-colored. The view across the diameter was magnificent; it was an unbelievably great expanse. As many times as he had been there in the past, each new sight of it always brought him up short, and he had to catch his breath. Just there, it seemed, a strange and brilliant light lay upon the world, and all the objects in the landscape were washed clean and set away in the distance.
Saturday [August 26, 2006], the Trust that has managed the Preserve since it came into federal ownership in 2000, opened the property to all comers. Normally access is tightly restricted, so it was a big event for many of us — a chance to see the back country, if only from the window of a car. According to local news reports, about 1500 vehicles showed up, more than expected and more than could be accommodated. Rains had washed out parts of the planned tour route and the result was congestion unfitting for such a beautiful place.
Still, we were glad we went. Even driving just a few miles across Valle Grande changed perceptions and made it seem beautiful all over again.
Photos rarely serve the Valle Grande well. For one, its almost too big for the human eye, let alone the two-dimensional reproduction. That said, here a few photos taken Saturday, including some of the traffic. You may click on any image for a larger version.
Traffic backed up in both directions on Hwy 4 waiting to turn in.
View showing the road into Valle Grande, and a way of travel many of us envied.
Some of the beauty found, especially in our verdant summer of 2006.
That’s the East Fork of the Jemez River.
Too beautiful for words. Too beautiful for photos.
Too many car-bound nature lovers snake along at a few miles an hour.
Would you like a rider, good lookin’? How about you? Hmm, maybe not.