2/1/20
Senator Martin Heinrich has rolled out a long planned proposal to upgrade Bandelier National Monument to national park status. His idea centers on increasing tourism in northern New Mexico by raising the profile of Bandelier and he wants to allow hunting in the upper reaches of Bandelier where it adjoins the Valles Caldera National Preserve.
Bandelier National Monument was established under the Antiquities Act by President Woodrow Wilson in 1916. The Monument was managed by the US Forest Service until 1935 when it was transferred to the National Park Service. In 1962 substantial, archaeologically rich acreage on the north side of the Monument near the Tsankawi section was transferred to the Atomic Energy Commission. Today Bandelier encompasses over 33,000 acres of land, most of it protected under the Wilderness Act.
In 1978 the high elevation area of Bandelier above Apache Springs was acquired from the Dunigan family, then owners of the Baca Ranch (now the Valles Caldera National Preserve). This 4011 acre parcel had been logged and grazed by the private owners and includes old roads, cattle ponds, and montane grasslands on Cerro Grande, the highest peak in the park. The NPS acquired this 4011 acre parcel, long referred to as the “New Acquisition,” to protect the Frijoles watershed. This upper reach of the park is bordered on the north and south by Forest Service land and to the west by the Valles Caldera.
For several years, hunting groups have been focused on opening Bandelier to hunting. At one time a proposal to open the entire wilderness portion of the Monument to hunting was floated and was rejected by Bandelier officials and activists who saw conflicts between the core mission of the Monument and hunting in the rugged backcountry.
The new proposal for hunting in the Heinrich bill focuses only on the New Acquisition and some lands that were added to the Monument in 2000 when the Valles Caldera National Preserve was created by Congress. This area includes the cross-country ski trails and the Cerro Grande Trail. It was subject to a large prescribed fire in 2007 that successfully reduced fire behavior during the Las Conchas Fire in 2011. Other fuel treatments to mitigate damage from past logging have occurred in the area as well as the infamous Cerro Grande prescribed fire which got out of control in 2000.
Senator Heinrich proposes to create a new “Bandelier National Preserve” of these 4011 acres which would be managed like the Valles Caldera National Preserve. Caldera Action has suggested that the 4011 acres could be added to the Valles Caldera National Preserve rather than creating a new Preserve, to avoid confusing the public. Currently Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve in southern Colorado has a similar split between park and preserve lands for the same reason (hunting).
Caldera Action has asked Senator Heinrich to increase the budget for Bandelier if the national park proposal passes. We have objected to increasing visitation without increased staffing and improvements to infrastructure. We also think if hunting and trapping are to occur in the upper part of Bandelier, those lands should be added to the Valles Caldera National Preserve rather than made a new preserve.
You can share your thoughts on the Bandelier National Park/hunting proposal with Senator Heinrich by clicking here.