In 2001 Congress authorized the purchase of an approximately 95,000 acre ranch in New Mexico for $101,000,000. Of those 95,000 acres, 5,000 were given to a nearby tribe, and approximately 300 was moved to the National Park Service which managed the nearby Bandelier Natl Monument. The remaining roughly 90,000 acres is now known as the Valles Caldera National Preserve.
Instead of Congress giving the land to one of the federal land management agencies for them to manage, they created a pilot project. Under the project the "Valles Caldera Trust" would manage the land. The idea was that the trust would eventually manage the lands without government funds. Basically the feds would give the trust less money each year, and the trust would become self-sufficient. If the preserve didn't become self-sufficient by 2020 then the preserve would be managed by the US Forest Service which has a National Forest bordering most of the preserve.
SHOCKER... The trust has said it has no way of becoming self-sufficient and is only able to bring in about $850,000 a year, even though the feds say $3,000,000 is needed to run it.
While the original law said the land would be moved to the USFS, recent congressional bills have said the lands should be managed by the National Park Service. Even hunting groups in New Mexico have said they'd prefer a National Park Service managed area over a New Mexico Fish and Game managed area. As part of the the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act, numerous land management bills were folded into it, including the moving of Valles Caldera to the NPS. The NDAA passed the House today. It will go to the Senate for vote next week and then to the President.
It looks like hunting groups may actually get what they want for once. For those that don't know, Valles Caldera is one of the top elk hunting locations in NM.
Before anyone asks, since it is a preserve, the NPS is required to continue the allow the use of fishing, hunting, and grazing within the preserve.
