Fall comes to the Valles Caldera National Preserve/Courtesy photo

CALDERA ACTION NEWS RELEASE

Fall comes to the Valles Caldera after a fairly dry summer but one that saw few significant fires in the Jemez Mountains. Great herds of elk gather in the Valle Grande as the bulls begin to bugle (or flute) and the season of elk romance and competition begins.

 This summer, Caldera Action continued to work with our partners at New Mexico Wild and the Western Watersheds Project to keep encouraging the federal agencies to eliminate trespass livestock from the Preserve. Fortunately, we have a partner in the National Park Service, as they not only hired a wrangler again to round up cattle quickly, but they made sure the ranchers had to come and retrieve their cattle in such a way that it discouraged anyone from facilitating cattle trespass. The NPS wrangler put the cattle in the corral in Valle San Antonio or other corrals and volunteers made sure the cattle were fed and watered while their owners came to get them.

 Thank you to all our supporters for helping make this possible.

The Valles Caldera staff is preparing for Public Lands Day this Saturday and the annual Fall Fiesta at the Preserve October 4 through 12. We can volunteer to help build a new trail near the Cabin District on Public Lands Day (register by clicking here) or help the NPS staff prepare for the Fiesta.

Either event gives us yet another excuse for spending time in the Caldera and being with others to improve our public experience of this great place.