Caldera Action has been focused on-the-ground management of the Valles Caldera for years and we continue to monitor local actions that could threaten the quality of the environment at the Caldera. With major changes in Washington DC, we must also keep an eye on big picture political events that could threaten the Caldera. With the legislature in session in Santa Fe, we see opportunities to help the Caldera through state law also.
Department of Wildife at the State?
On the state level we see people working to reform the state Game and Fish Department which manages wildlife at the Valles Caldera and statewide. Many western states have updated their old-fashioned game and fish departments to focus beyond the animals that people hunt and fish for. Many are advocating that New Mexico’s Game and Fish Department be changed to the New Mexico Wildlife Department so the agency will consider wildlife broadly and have reformed oversight.
Senate Bill 5 would update the State Game Commission (to be renamed State Wildlife Commission) so that current politicization of the commission gives way to a more professional focus with full rule-making authority over a range of wildlife. Other reforms would lead to a more balanced membership of the Commission and a new way for commissioners to be appointed to difuse some of the political problems that have cropped up in the process in the past. For more information click here. Please consider sending an email in support of SB5 to SRC.zoom@nmlegis.gov at the Senate Rules Committee.
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NPS Funding Could get hit by Trump
People watching the federal budget process in Washington note the possibility of the Trump administration proposing cuts in National Park Service funding. Such cuts could affect the Valles Caldera and Bandelier in serious ways.
Recently, Trump’s staff said that some NPS funding may be shifted over to subsidize oil industry development on BLM lands. Last year Congress cut the NPS budget by $150 million, out of a total annual budget of $3.75 billion. This year, with republicans dominating Washington, more serious cuts could take place.
The NPS budget is one fifteenth of 1% of the federal budget. The agency has been underfunded for decades and struggles with minimal staff while its facilities are decaying for a shortage of repair funds. When politicians target the agency for cuts, it is hard not to see it as ideological rather than a fiscal decision since the NPS budget is trivial in the big budget picture.
The National Parks Conservation Association said, “The National Park Service is only a tiny slice of our federal budget, yet it delivers significant economic benefits, with $15 in economic activity generated for each dollar invested. Between 2012 and 2022, visitation grew by 10% while staffing declined by 13%. Today, the Park Service has 2,600 fewer staff than in 2011.”
Funding for the parks has also increased by 10% in the last decade, largely due to President Biden’s Infrastructure Investment Act and a bill called America Outdoors which directed funding toward a backlog in national park infrastructure maintenance. Even though last year’s Congress approved spending in the national parks under the Infrastructure Investment Act, Trump seeks to stop that spending and “claw back” money already appropriated for work in the parks.
Meanwhile, NPS staffing has dropped by 3% over the last decade which may not seem like much, but the agency was already operating on a minimal staff a decade ago and now a severe shortage of law enforcement rangers affects the whole park system. These are the people who address crimes, search and rescue, medical emergencies, and protection of natural and cultural resources in terms of vandalism, theft, traffic violations, and poaching.
In the last few days, the Trump administration instituted a federal hiring freeze which means all seasonal employees in the national park system will not be hired this year unless an exemption for them is made. Up to 7500 seasonal employees got notices that their job offers have been rescinded. This will have a huge impact on visitor services and environmental protection at all our parks including local national parks and monuments. Nobody knows how long the hiring freeze will stay in effect.
All eyes are on Elon Musk’s federal budget advisory committee that Trump started before the election. Musk donated to the Sierra Club years ago but has taken a hard right turn in his politics since, giving 270 million dollars to the Trump campaign among other things. We’ll see if his “department of government efficiency” (not a real department) reaches down into the federal land agencies or not.
We will keep you posted as well as we can.
