NPS News;

JEMEZ SPRINGS — The National Park Service (NPS) has prepared a fire management plan for Valles Caldera National Preserve and is seeking public input on the plan’s environmental assessment Sept. 3 through Oct. 3.

The assessment defines two alternatives for managing wildland fires in Valles Caldera to protect visitors, infrastructure, and park resources – a no action option and the park’s preferred action. Under the no action option, the NPS would suppress all naturally-caused fires.

Under the preferred action option, in addition to fire suppression, the NPS can manage wildland fires within the park boundary for resource benefit and to reduce the risk of megafires, in collaboration with tribes and pueblos, adjacent landowners, and other land management agencies. Under both options, any human-caused fire will be suppressed.

“Now that Valles Caldera has completed most of its planned forest thinning projects over the last 15 years, this is a critical next step to allow fire to play a beneficial role in the ecosystem while protecting surrounding communities from catastrophic fire events,” Superintendent Jorge Silva-Bañuelos said. “We are all too familiar with the damage large-scale wildfires can have in the area, and we can minimize this risk by reducing fuel loads through more frequent low-intensity fires.”

Once the environmental assessment is available for review and comment, it will be posted on the National Park Service’s Planning, Environment and Public Comment (PEPC) website. A link will be provided on the park’s Planning web page.

In addition, there will be an interactive StoryMap to explore, and the NPS will host two community open house meetings:

• The first meeting is 4-7 p.m. Sept. 4, 2024 at the Los Alamos Nature Center (2600 Canyon Road, Los Alamos, NM 87544); and
• the second meeting is 4-7 p.m. Sept. 5, 2024 at Valles Caldera Headquarters (90 Villa Louis Martin, Jemez Springs, NM 87025).