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Friday, March 11, 2011

Senators Make Another Push


Journal Staff Report
          U.S. Senators Jeff Bingaman and Tom Udall are renewing their push to transfer the management of the Valles Caldera National Preserve to the National Park Service.
        The New Mexico senators on Thursday introduced legislation that directs the Park Service to take over management of the 90,000-acre Valles Caldera, now run by a federal corporation or trust headed by a presidentially appointed board of trustees in something of an experiment in public lands management.
        Hunting, fishing and cattle grazing would continue to be permitted under the senators' bill.
        The senators, in a news release, said the measure also "strengthens protections for tribal cultural and religious sites and ensures access by pueblos to the area."
        Bingaman and Udall, both Democrats, first introduced their legislation last year, following a report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office that said the preserve is at least five years behind schedule in the development of an effective management system and that a congressional requirement for the Valles Caldera to achieve financial self-sustainability by 2015 will be difficult to achieve.
        A separate National Park Service study, which was requested by Bingaman and Udall, determined the Valles Caldera meets criteria for inclusion in the National Park System as a national preserve. The report highlighted significant geologic resources in the caldera, a sprawling collapsed volcano.
        "The Valles Caldera is one of the most spectacular places to visit in New Mexico," Bingaman said in a statement. "I believe it belongs within the National Park Service, which has a long history of managing our nation's most special natural resources."
        Udall said: "By utilizing the resources and skills of the National Park Service, I believe the Valles Caldera National Preserve will continue to prosper as a natural wonder full of significant geology, ecology, history, and culture. Park Service management is the next critical step in preserving this national treasure for future generations."
        In 2000, the federal government acquired the caldera, formerly a private ranch, for $100 million.
        But as a compromise with conservatives in Congress opposed to adding to the government's public lands holdings, the acquisition law also established an experimental management framework where trustees would manage the preserve as a self-sustaining operation with hunting and grazing as well as recreational activities, with the goal of breaking even financially by 2015.
        At public meetings held last year, there was a lot of support for NPS management of the preserve. But some involved in the preserve's current management have expressed concern about the legislation
        Last year, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee approved the Bingaman-Udall measure, clearing it for full Senate consideration. But the 2010 congressional session ended without passage.
        The bill will once again be referred to the Senate Energy Committee, which Bingaman chairs.
       

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