Getting out of Town, to the Valle Grande in the Jemez

Two weeks ago, Mark and I went on a seven-mile hike in the Valle Caldera National Preserve, We joined the “Friends” of this great endeavor to preserve one of the West’s classic landscapes and largest volcanic craters for public use. It took a lot to make this happen, both in Congress and here in New Mexico.  Rep. Roger Madelena and I sponsored a Memorial in 1998 requesting that this land be bought by the federal government from the Dunigans, a Texas oil family who owned much of the remaining Baca Land Grant. It finally was purchased, under the Land and Water Conservation Fund in 2000, with support coming from the entire NM delegation, and finally, Sen Domenici,. However, the proviso was, that it had to be self-sufficient in five years or so. A tall order, but the Trust is going to do it, with more public tours—van tours, cross country events, marathons—as well as with the more traditional ranching, and hunting (there are from 2,500-3,500 elk on the 89,000-acre property.)

Our guided hike, sponsored by the Friends of the Valle Grande, walked around Cerro del Abrigo, a mountain in the middle of the preserve from which you could see several different valleys – Valle San Antonio, and Valle Toledo-- and mountains, including Redondo Peak and Pajarito Mountain. There were great volunteers along who were wild flower and bird specialists from Los Alamos, and tour guide Craig Martin, who wrote a great book about the Baca Location called, Valle Grande: A History of the Baca Location No. 1.  It’s a paperback from All Seasons Publishing ( ISBN 0-9639040-4-3) that’s available from Bookworks in the North Valley and other local bookstores. After the hike, we had a barbecue with a power point from Craig on the history of the land. I’m not a huge fan of power points but for history buffs and naturalists, though, this was great.

To Find out more hikes and other activities at the Valles Caldera Preserve, go to www.vallescaldera.gov.

Comments

[Greg Kendall]

If you would like to find out what Los Amigos de Valles Caldera group is up to you can go to our website at:
http://www.losamigosdevallescaldera.org

[Karen McKinnon]

It is so important to protect the beautiful places of the West - and one crucial way to do this is to help prevent the development of new coal plants.

There has never been a more important time to stand up against the development of more dirty coal. New coal plants that are built will operate for approximately 50-60 years, adding carbon dioxide, mercury, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and other small particulates to the air we breathe. In addition, coal plants use massive amounts of water - an average 1,500 MW plant uses 10 million gallons per day - that the arid West simply cannot afford to lose. New technologies have eliminated the need for new coal plants, and it is possible to meet the energy needs of the West through energy efficiency measures, renewable energy and, if absolutely necessary, new coal technologies like IGCC with carbon capture.

Stand up and show the utilities that you do not want or need a new coal fired power plant.

Here are five things you can do:

1. Submit comments to the BIA and tell the agency what you think about proposed Desert Rock coal-fired power plant (Must arrive by August 20th).
2. Encourage your friends, neighbors and family to write a letter too.
3. Attend a public hearing and bring two people with you. The more people that attend the meeting the stronger the message will be to the BIA that New Mexicans don¢t want Sithe's dirty coal plant.
4. Write a letter to the editor of your local paper, a blog, or a list-serve expressing your concern about the proposed Desert Rock coal plant.
5. Demand national legislation that would move the entire country away from coal.

Check out http://www.sanjuancitizens.org/air/desertrock.shtml to get the schedule for the public hearings and find out more information about Desert Rock. Protect the air we breathe and the earth we depend on by making your voice heard!

[suz]

Good - I had wanted to get Khalid Hosseini's new book, and stopped off at Bookworks and ordered Craig Martin's book too while I was there.