View of Valle Toledo, which is currently bisected by the gas pipeline road. NPS/D. Krueger

VALLES CALDERA NEWS RELEASE

Final Phase of Natural Gas Pipeline Decommissioning Begins

Work has begun on the third and final phase of decommissioning the retired natural gas pipeline that crosses the northern sections of Valles Caldera National Preserve. This phase continues with restoring natural ecological processes to a nine-mile-long section disturbed by the pipeline corridor, including reducing erosion, reconnecting wetlands, recontouring to promote natural revegetation, and removing evidence of the access road. During this reclamation work, the project area along with trail access from the park’s east boundary will be closed for the remainder of the year.

The pipeline – built in the 1940s by the US Department of Energy to transport natural gas to Los Alamos National Laboratory – was retired in 2022 and restoration efforts began that same year.

The National Park Service (NPS) and New Mexico Gas Company have worked together to develop the restoration plan. This phase covers rehabilitating the landscape along the central and eastern nine miles of the pipeline route within the park, from the San Antonio Cabin area to the eastern boundary of the park. The reclamation activities, funded entirely by New Mexico Gas Company, will involve smoothing out the old roadbed, removing berms, installing water bars and plugs, removing culverts, reconnecting wetlands bisected by the route, tilling and harrowing the soil in the reclaimed sections, and replanting with native plant seeds.

The entire route of the old pipeline corridor will be closed to all visitor use to allow vegetation to regrow. The NPS is working on a trail reroute for the 2025 season and will provide details early next year.

The work is expected to be mostly completed by early November. The NPS will monitor the restoration effort to evaluate vegetation establishment to ensure that erosion reduction measures are successful.