Conservation groups say these cattle are trespassing in Valles Caldera National Preserve/Western Watersheds Project
Illegal livestock grazing at Valles Caldera National Preserve in New Mexico has drawn the threat of legal action against the National Park Service by conservation groups that maintain the cattle are causing damage to important wildlife habitat.
A notice of intent to sue the federal agency was filed Wednesday by WildEarth Guardians, Western Watersheds Project, and Caldera Action. Valles Caldera was set aside as a national preserve to protect its unique ecosystems, headwaters, and thriving elk herds, yet "for years, cattle have illegally entered the VCNP from neighboring Forest Service grazing allotments, causing damage to streams, riparian areas, and important wildlife habitat," the groups claim. Despite voiced concern over the situation, the groups maintain the Park Service has failed to address the issue.
In his October 2021 confirmation hearing, Park Service Director Chuck Sams promised U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-New Mexico, that he is “committed to figuring a way to ensure that there are no trespass issues.”
So far, this promise has gone unfulfilled as more than 100 cattle have been documented in Valles Caldera meadows for most of the past summer, the conservation groups allege.
“I feel a deep sense of betrayal,” said Madeleine Carey, Southwest conservation manager for WildEarth Guardians. “We were promised this persistent issue would be dealt with and if anything, things have gotten worse. No one from the Park Service has responded to our emails about the cows this summer.”
This photo of cattle in a riparian area of Valles Caldera was taken in September/Madelaine Carey
Even the New Mexico Livestock Board agrees the issue needs attention, the groups said. In June 2019, NMLB passed a unanimous motion to hold a meeting with the Park Service to develop a solution. Still, the issue of trespass persists, the groups added. As recently as October 8th, dozens of cattle were spotted in the Valle San Antonio and Valle Toledo, an area closed to cattle grazing under Park Service regulations, they said.
“We worked for years with others to get the Valles Caldera into the National Park System because the Park Service has the highest standards of land protection of any federal agency,” said Tom Ribe, executive director of Caldera Action, a nonprofit focused on the Jemez Mountains. “We trusted they would protect the Caldera from all sorts of possible damage. They closed the majority of the preserve to cattle grazing but then looked the other way while cows flooded in across vandalized and damaged fences. We have no idea why the management doesn’t respond to this blatant trespass. It is not consistent with Park Service policies.”
The National Park Service does not comment on legal action.
In a press release, the three groups said that "at the beginning of the grazing season in May, volunteers documented the condition of the northern boundary fence between National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service lands. Much of the boundary fence was laying on the ground, cut, or otherwise rendered inoperable. Though the National Park Service has replaced miles of fence, vandalism, tree-falls, and aging fencing continue to allow cattle trespass."
By federal contract, U.S. Forest Service-permitted ranchers are not allowed to graze outside of their specific grazing leases. The Forest Service does not enforce the terms of these contracts when the cattle trespass on national park lands, according to the conservationists.
“Livestock trampling riparian areas of these protected lands has gone on far too long with federal land managers doing too little to stop it,” said Cyndi Tuell, Arizona and New Mexico director of Western Watersheds Project.
Livestock entering Valles Caldera have been documented by the Park Service and Forest Service since at least 2017.
“It’s frustrating that the Park Service is breaking its promise to New Mexicans to protect the natural resources in Valles Caldera and has let this situation fester for more than five years. Species on the brink of extinction like the Jemez Mountain salamander need swift action, not agency foot-dragging,” said Tuell.
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Some clarification: Although called a "national preserve," Valles Caldera is a unit of the National Park System, and under the Redwood Act of 1978 it enjoys the same protections as "all areas of the National Park System from impairment and/or derogation of their resources."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redwood_Act_(1978)#:~:text=By%20this%20amendment%20the%20United,or%20derogation%20of%20their%20resources.
That said, the preserve does recognize the history of livestock grazing on its lands.
Valles Caldera National Preserve Livestock Program To Resume Summer 2024
According to historical data, the grasslands within Valles Caldera National Preserve had a historical fire return interval of 3-12 years. Therefore, to mimic natural fire behavior to improve grassland health and forage quality for both wildlife and livestock, the NPS will seek to rest and burn the preserve’s grazing areas every ten years, during which time grazing will be suspended.
Beginning in 2021, NPS officials planned to rest the grazing areas and conduct prescribed burns in 2022. Because the park was not able to find a suitable window to conduct its prescribed burn in spring 2022, the park will seek to find a new burn window in spring 2023. If successful, the park will resume its grazing program during summer 2024 with applications for the two-year special use permit being requested in summer 2023.
The NPS closely monitors the preserve’s grasslands to prevent overgrazing, and if conditions become too dry, the livestock program may be delayed or cancelled for the year.
https://www.nps.gov/vall/learn/management/grazing.htm
You can learn more about the preserve's livestock grazing plans here: https://www.nps.gov/vall/learn/management/livestock-operations-plan.htm
That said, a managed grazing program is different from one involving trespassing livestock.
Managed grazing is a legitimate resource management strategy as grasslands are adapted to it. Without bison and abundant large native large herbivores cattle are the next best thing. The results from grazing are significantly different than prescribed burning or mowing.
Your NM "herd district law" does not apply to property owned by a governmental entity. Please read it--the definition of covered "persons" ion particular.
Let me help ec:
The cost of a barbed wire fence is $1.48 per foot unde the best of conditions. That's $7814 per linear mile. In order to fence a square mile, you'd need $31,257. Let's amortize (straight) the fence over 20 years: that's $1563 per year. At $1.35 per cow unit (it's not "per head"), you'd need to put 1158 cow units on that square mile every year for 20 years just to pay for the fence! That's 1.8 cow units per acre per year just to break even on the fence.
In NM, the state ag dept suggests that a section (640 acres) can stock 5-6 cow units, not the 1158 CU needed to pay for the fence alone!
https://webnew.ped.state.nm.us/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/New-Mexico-Agr...
Come on man!
https://www.extension.iastate.edu/agdm/livestock/html/b1-75.html
A Johnson, your explaination shows exactly why the burden to build the fence shouldn't fall on the Forest Service or NPS. The FS is receiving $1.35 per unit, the cattleman is receiving thousands.
The problem with A Johnsons math is they aren't fencing every square mile. You need to do your math based on total acres and total fence needed. That said if it wasn't profitable to graze federal land the ranchers wouldn't do it. But I doubt it is the gold mine many seem to make it out to be.