Valles Caldera Afternoon – My Shot of the Day – June 3, 2014

I finally made it back out to join my friends on some stream restoration projects in the Valles Caldera National Preserve near Los Alamos, New Mexico. The partners on this project are the Albuquerque Wildlife Federation and Los Amigos de Valles Caldera…

…the project is designed to enhance the water quality of Jaramillo Creek. Volunteers will plant willows and build an exclosure to protect them from elk. We will also dig sod tiles to form small channels and place the sod so as to form small plugs in eroding sections of the creek to divert flow back into historical but drying channels.

The Valles Caldera is a stunning piece of public land. I’ll post some more shots from there later in the week. In the July issue of New Mexico Magazine I have an article profiling the history of the Albuquerque Wildlife Federation and the amazing work they do. It is always a fun time surrounded by satisfying work.  I encourage everyone to check them out and to consider joining us on some of these projects.

From Wikipedia:

Valles Caldera (or Jemez Caldera) is a 13.7-mile (22.0 km) wide volcanic caldera in the Jemez Mountains of northern New Mexico. Hot springs, streams, fumaroles, natural gas seeps and volcanic domes dot the caldera floor landscape. The highest point in the caldera is Redondo Peak, an 11,253-foot (3,430 m) resurgent lava dome located entirely within the caldera. Also within the caldera are several grass valleys [Valle(s)] the largest of which is Valle Grande, the only one accessible by a paved road.

The caldera is now a national preserve known as the Valles Caldera National Preserve, a unit of the National Forest System, covering most of the caldera but not all. It is located in northeastern Sandoval County and southern Rio Arriba County, just west of Los Alamos. It has a land area of 89,216 acres (139.400 sq mi; 361.04 km2) and administered by the Valles Caldera Trust with offices in Jemez Springs.

More soon….

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