By JIM STEIN
Los Alamos

I completely agree with the sentiments expressed in the letter “Concern with Access to the Valles Caldera.” When the National Park Service assumed control of the Valles Caldera, they promised better access to the public. They started on a good foot. People were able enjoy the expanse and beauty of the place with reasonable controls and reasonable access. Local organizations and events were treated as community partners and welcomed. The hours in the early days started at 8am-8pm during the summer, consistent with other NPS units. They also partnered with local clubs to hold events, such as their incredibly popular dark sky nights with the local astronomy club. I actually helped out with one of those events. 

However, over the years I’ve seen a slow erosion of that welcoming spirit. They implemented winter hours. Okay, fine. Understandable, but when it’s still summer? Or when it’s still 80 degrees out and no winter conditions? The backcountry, always limited to 35 passes (why?), was closed off. The hours then continued to be curtailed to where it’s now only 9-5 year round. Who can truly enjoy the place with these hours? Clubs holding annual events are no longer welcome. This erosion of public access has now come to this…an online reservation system for just 35 backcountry passes…for over 89,000 acres. This system was designed for campgrounds in high use national parks. Unfortunately, even in those parks where it’s really justified, it’s a subpar system at best, and open for abuse. The Valles Caldera is requiring the public to utilize this system just for accessing the area. Forget about camping because that’s not allowed for the ‘general’ public. The visitation at the Valles Caldera is a fraction of other nearby NPS units and those units don’t use this system at all for access. It’s not needed. The only ones that will benefit are guides or other special business interests who will game the system. Just as an example, the first allocation of weekend passes were taken in less than two days…THREE months in advance. Something doesn’t sound right to me. You would think there would have been public meetings about this or their management plan in general, but there’s only silence or crafty spin coming from their PR staff. Don’t buy it.

This is all about public land management to the lowest denominator. The less they have to manage, the less they have to do. You can actually preserve the area with reasonable controls while enhancing (and even increasing) public access. They can probably use some advice from Bandelier that has a good history (my opinion) in management with a much higher visitation rate. The Valles Caldera is going in the opposite direction. How can the two NPS units, located next to each other, have completely different philosophies? Continuing to close off the public (the owners) is not the answer. The Valles Caldera deserves so much better.