NATIONAL PARK SERVICE • U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Foundation Document Overview Valles Caldera National Preserve New Mexico Contact Information For more information about the Valles Caldera National Preserve Foundation Document, contact: [email protected] or (575) 829-4100 or write to: Superintendent, Valles Caldera National Preserve, PO Box 359, Jemez Springs, NM 87025 Purpose Significance Significance statements express why Valles Caldera National Preserve resources and values are important enough to merit national park unit designation. Statements of significance describe why an area is important within a global, national, regional, and systemwide context. These statements are linked to the purpose of the park unit, and are supported by data, research, and consensus. Significance statements describe the distinctive nature of the park and inform management decisions, focusing efforts on preserving and protecting the most important resources and values of the park unit. • Valles Caldera possesses exceptional value in illustrating and interpreting massive explosive volcanic eruptions, caldera formation, and the functioning of active geothermal systems. Valles Caldera is one of the world’s best examples of an intact volcanic caldera and is considered the worldwide “type locality” for caldera resurgence. Located in the Jemez Mountains of • Valles Caldera is a place where one can directly experience north-central New Mexico, VALLES pre-agricultural heritage and reflect on inconspicuous CALDERA NATIONAL PRESERVE protects, cultural landscapes where hunting and gathering were preserves, and restores ecosystems practiced successfully for more than 10,000 years. Past and cultural landscapes within an peoples across the continent were drawn to Valles outstanding example of a volcanic Caldera to utilize its rich geologic deposits of high quality caldera for the purpose of education, obsidian for tools and weapons, making this location one of the most significant cultural obsidian sources in North scientific research, public enjoyment and America. To this day, the caldera is used by local pueblo and use, and cultural continuity. tribal peoples and is cherished by more than two dozen American Indian groups. © Roger Blake arrowheads enlarged to show detail Significance Fundamental Resources and Values Fundamental resources and values are those features, systems, processes, experiences, stories, scenes, sounds, smells, or other attributes determined to merit primary consideration during planning and management processes because they are essential to achieving the purpose of the park and maintaining its significance. • The Caldera • Valle Grande and Volcanic Vistas • Traditional Cultural Landscapes and Tribal • The land use history of Valles Caldera encapsulates the Connections story of early Spanish and Mexican settlement across the present-day American Southwest and the socio-political • Prehistoric and Historic Legacy shifts that occurred when the territory was annexed by the United States at the end of the Mexican-American War • High Elevation Ecosystem in 1848. Previously known as Baca Location No. 1, Valles • A Landscape in Recovery Caldera exemplifies the legacy of how the establishment, utilization, and changing ownership of Spanish and Mexican land grants transformed the Southwest. Valles Caldera National Preserve contains other resources and values that may not be fundamental to the purpose and • Valles Caldera’s unusual setting—high elevation, caldera significance of the park, but are important to consider in topography, unfragmented habitats, and key hydrologic management and planning decisions. These are referred to as role at the top of the watershed—presents a dynamic other important resources and values. learning landscape for the scientific study and restoration of ecosystem processes that are recovering from three • Scientific Knowledge and Education centuries of human disturbances and challenged by contemporary and future climate change. • History Grove • Valles Caldera’s distinct topographic mosaic of expansive valley meadows, lush forested volcanic domes, meandering valley streams, and old growth Ponderosa pine groves are in striking contrast to the arid New Mexico landscapes at lower elevations. With caldera vistas from rim to rim, elk and other wildlife viewing, dark night skies, winter skiing, excellent hunting and fishing opportunities, and backcountry solitude, the landscape provides extraordinary year-round recreational opportunities and visitor experiences. • Valles Caldera National Preserve was first established in 2000 as an unprecedented national experiment in public land management through which the U.S. Congress sought to evaluate the efficiency, economy, and effectiveness of decentralized public land management. The 15-year experiment continues to contribute to the national dialogue on the role of protected areas for long-term economic and environmental sustainability and innovative approaches to place-based and science-based adaptive management. Description Valles Caldera is located in the center and at the top of For thousands of years American Indians have used the caldera the Jemez Mountains in north-central New Mexico. for hunting, fishing, and gathering various plants for food, The 88,900-acre preserve encompasses almost all of medicine, and ceremonies. The signature resource for these the volcanic caldera created by a spectacular volcanic indigenous peoples was obsidian, and tools found across the eruption about 1.25 million years ago. The caldera is United States were made from obsidian gathered here. Numerous dormant, but not extinct, and still displays signs of American Indian tribes and pueblos in the region have deep volcanic life with hot springs and boiling sulphuric acid historic and cultural connections to the caldera. Valles Caldera fumaroles. The juxtaposition of large grassland meadows, also chronicles the history of New Mexico’s enchantment and or valles in Spanish, surrounded by rounded forest- exploitation—from 19th century land use after the Treaty of covered volcanic domes provides the distinctive natural Guadalupe Hidalgo and sheep grazing under the partido system landscape that led to the name of Valles Caldera. These to subsequent cattle grazing, timber harvesting, and geothermal ecosystems, ranging from 8,000 to 11,254 feet high at the exploration. The preserve offers a landscape in which to explore top of Redondo Peak, combine abundant rainfall, mixed- the dynamics of high-elevation ecosystem stability and resilience conifer forests, and deep rich soils to support a great in the context of changing climate conditions. Today’s approach diversity of animals, plants, fungi, and other organisms to ecological restoration builds on the lessons learned from this including several thousand elk and healthy populations of history and seeks to regain balance between human uses and mountain lions, bears, and coyotes. natural processes. The preserve is an ecosystem in recovery. 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