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Report targets Valles Caldera problems
Federal agency cites poor management
Associated Press Writer
Photo by ROSS D. FRANKLIN/AP
As advancing storm clouds approach, the San Antonio Creek flows through grassy fields at the Valles Caldera National Preserve in Valles Caldera National Preserve, N.M., in July. A federal report says the land management experiment on the preserve points to problems that may not allow the operation to be self-supporting by a 2015 deadline.
The report by the Government Accountability Office provides more ammunition for critics who say the public-private experiment should be ended and the remote, 89,000-acre preserve turned over to a federal agency.
The preserve, a collapsed volcano that is now a series of huge, grassy bowls ringed by mountains, was bought by the federal government nine years ago and is run by a nine-member trust.
It's supposed to be financially self-sustaining by the end of 2015, when federal funding would dry up.
But the GAO said the trust is at least five years behind schedule. It hasn't developed a strategic plan or monitoring systems, and has weak financial management, according to the recently released report.
Stephen Henry, chairman of the trust's board, acknowledged in a letter to the GAO that "there is no excuse for these plans and controls to be lacking."
But he also argued that the federal law that created the preserve is "dysfunctional" and doesn't allow for financial self-sufficiency.
"Simply stated, the Valles Caldera Trust can never achieve financial independence under this legal regime," Henry said in the letter that was part of the report.
Trustees say the law that created the trust limits their ability to attract long-term businesses - hotels and restaurants, for example - that could generate revenue.
Critics who don't want that type of development anyway say the governance setup never made sense, and the experiment is a failure.
"The trust model is unsalvageable," Tom Ribe, executive director of the watchdog group Caldera Action said in a statement Thursday.
They're pushing for the former cattle ranch in the Jemez Mountains to be made a National Park Service preserve, with professional land managers.
New Mexico's U.S. senators, Democrats Jeff Bingaman and Tom Udall, have asked for an assessment of whether the property could be included in the National Park Service system.
Bingaman said the GAO report confirms there are problems with the management concept at the preserve, and "it is clear that changes need to be made to best protect this national resource."
The trust - with seven of the members appointed by the president of the United States - is charged with protecting the land, providing recreation and running cattle, while making the preserve financially self-sustaining.
Only one other federal property, the urban Presidio in San Francisco, has a similar governance setup. It's already covering its operating costs and is on track for full financial self-sufficiency by 2013, according to a spokeswoman. The GAO report said the Valles Caldera's progress has been hampered by turnover among board members and staff and the amount of restoration and infrastructure work required on the property.
Henry told the GAO "when you have seven trustees of differing specializations interpreting a vague piece of legislation containing dueling goals and objectives, discord can result. Staff turnover would be an expected result."
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