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State of the Park
TO: Friends of Bandelier STATE OF THE PARK Well, the story for Bandelier for 2009, was, and continues to be for 2010, change. We've seen a significant transition with our staff, particularly with our Management Team. Except for our Fire Management Officer Gary Kemp, staff are all under two years of service at the Monument. With all of these new staff come a pulse of new ideas, new energy, and new directions! Changes within the staff have included myself following Brad Traver as Superintendent, who is now working in the Southern Arizona Support Office. Tom and Beth Betts, recently from Wrangles-St. Elias in Alaska, are our new Chief Ranger and Personnel Assistant. Len Williams, from White Sands National Monument, has replaced Doug Brennemann as our Heavy Equipment Operator. Lynne and Brian Dominy have accepted new positions at Acadia National Park, and Rod Torrez, who recently replaced Cecilia Shields as one of our Interpretive Rangers, is now our Acting Chief of Interpretation (which we hope to permanently fill soon). So a lot of new faces and new ideas. We continue to make progress with the renovations to the Visitor Center, with strong indications that it will reopen about the end of summer. The museum is almost ready for the installation of our new exhibits, with which you will be extremely impressed. The new monument film is being finalized and is apparently a top secret project, since our interpreters haven't even allowed me to preview it.... The construction team is finishing with the new theater addition and preparing the space for the WNPA bookstore, which are going to be great additions to our Visitor Center. Commendations go out to Lynne Dominy, Rod Torrez, Sally King and Chris Judson on all of the great work they've done in developing and implementing this project. Liza Ermeling, our Facility Manager, has been busy with her team, completing planning and making preparations for our upgrades to the Juniper Campground and for the replacement of our gas line into Frijoles Canyon. Plans for the campground include reducing the total number of camping sites by twenty percent, developing walk-in sites, and restricting generator use to Loop C. The roads in the campground, as well as for the mesa top housing area, will all be repaved as well. Liza's team, with assistance from the Saguaro Trail Crew and the Rocky Mountain Youth Corps, were also successful in making improvements with our backcounty trails, with another push planned for this year. A new program for us this upcoming summer will be the Bandelier Conservation Corps. This program will be managed by our Interpretive Division, with Kevin Stillman (our previous Backcountry Ranger) as Crew Chief, and Lucas Swina (our previous Pueblo Youth Intern) as Assistant Crew Chief. This crew will consist of two high school youth from Los Alamos, two youth from Espanola, and two youth from Pojoaque. The intent of the program is to be experience-based, with goals to introduce youth to the federal land management, teach stewardship and back-country ethics, and to get some much-needed work completed for the Monument. This summer, the team will spend three days a week working on trails and the remaining two days working in smaller groups with the various divisions doing special projects. In addition, they will spend a couple of nights in the Wilderness, as well as spending a week at Rocky Mountain National Park working with the American Conservation Corps. Although we have funding this year, and possibly next, we are interested in making this a permanent program for Bandelier and may need assistance from the Friend's Group in finding sponsorship for this program's long-term success. Another program that Bandelier has embraced is the Building a Better Future Program, which is an internship program designed to encourage college students to get into careers in the National Park Service. This year, we'll sponsor four interns working with Glenn Simpson and the Historic Preservation Program. During 2009, the Interpretive Division implemented a new Junior Ranger Program, with new age-specific activities and four levels of free patches available for kids (funded by the National Park Foundation and the Centennial Initiative). Adults can participate in the Deputy Ranger program and earn a free patch. You can look at these new materials on the monument website at www.nps.gov/band. Len Scheel and Chris Judson have also established a Bandelier Steward Program for youth groups, including boy and girl scouts, which allows them to earn a special patch. We've also hired a group of local college students to assist us in our efforts of networking to the public using social media. Under the direction of Sally King and Colin McArthur, this team has developed Bandelier sites on Facebook and Twitter and will be enhancing our own official park website with new innovative and interactive features. So be sure to log in on Facebook or Twitter to track our progress. Our Resources Program, under the management of Barbara Judy, has been fully engaged and very busy. This year we're planning to complete an additional phase of our ecological restoration project, assist the state with planning for the reintroduction of Bighorn Sheep into White Rock Canyon, and work with USGS and other partners on how we are going to prepare the Monument and react to Climate Change. Later this summer, we plan to reopen Capulin Creek for fishing, based on the success of the recent reintroduction of native trout. Steve Fettig and the International Park Flight Migratory Bird Program continue with their successes (please check the recent Spring 2010 National Parks magazine for an interesting article - there's also an article for the Manhattan Project). As for the future of Bandelier, there are many new prospects, which include potential new sister parks, the Valles Caldera and the Manhattan Project. Recently, Bandelier staff has been included in public meeting for both of these recommended sites. It is conceivable that due to the proximity of these potential parks, that Bandelier may assume management responsibilities. This could mean expansion of the existing staff, and hopefully the ability to develop some additional specialized teams, such as a permanent trail crew. There would many obstacles such as office space, parking, and other issues that we would need to overcome, but I have every confidence in our staff and agency in addressing these issues. The opportunity to assist with establishing a new park is rarity for most, and we are very excited about the possibilities! I have only touched on a few our endeavors, and could go on, and on, and on, in discussing all of the wonderful activities that our staff and visitors are engaged. There is certainly a much-needed role in all of these programs for the Friend's Group, and most of them would never have been initiated without y'all's support! We all are looking forward to our re-opening ceremony that will include participation with our Friends. We're also excited about our Bandelier Conservation Corps; it will be a great opportunity for us and the Friends in promoting the Monument and making connections to youth and the local communities. As my personal one-year anniversary nears, and I'm finally getting a good understanding of the Monument and its resources, I'm looking forward to further developing my relationship with the Friend's Group and working for the continued protection of Bandelier and the enhancement of visitor experience.
Jason Lott Friends of Bandelier Newsletter May 19, 2010 Dear e-Friends of Bandelier. Spring is here at last, and with it comes our grants to Bandelier for the 2010 season. The BIG project at Bandelier is the Visitor Center remodeling. The work is coming along well and the rangers expect construction to be finished in August. Superintendent Jason Lott has asked the Friends to help support a Grand Re-opening party. Plans haven't been formalized yet, so Jason doesn't know how much funding to request. The historic CCC building needed many structural repairs, but now looks sound. The remodel includes a new theater building. When we toured in April, construction was well along; the theater will be quite spectacular! The park has also commissioned a new movie for the theater. New exhibits were developed in collaboration with artists from affiliated Pueblos; they are looking forward to completion too. We expect everything to be simply grand. The park also received stimulus money for maintenance and upgrades at Juniper Campground. It will be closed all summer, but nicer when it opens again. Other Grants Archaeological Survey: $6600. The rangers at Bandelier will continue their archaeological inventory of surface sites during the summer of 2010. The areas to be inventoried consist of small tracts scattered throughout the park that have never been surveyed because of their isolation. The four-person survey crew will consist of two experienced archaeologists, a student archaeologist and a beginning student intern. Jason requests that we cover the cost of the beginner. This position is at the GS-3 level, which pays the individual $10.46 an hour. He estimates the cost at $2,200 per month or $6,600 for the three-month field season. This will allow the student to gain on-the-ground field experience in inventory techniques, artifact analysis, field mapping, and GIS database analysis. Having an additional member will also enable the crew to cover more acreage. The archaeological surface survey of Bandelier began in 1987. Bandelier's archaeologist, Rory Gauthier, expects to complete the survey within three years. Eventual coverage will include only about 85 percent of the monument. Rory says his data indicate that the original inhabitants didn't utilize the sheerest cliffs of Bandelier's canyons much! Wildlife Program Support: $2500. The wildlife program needs field assessments of eighteen (18) game exclosures that were installed eight years ago. They are designed to measure differences in the composition of vegetation inside and outside the structures due to browsing by elk and deer. The exclosures consist of 8-foot chain link fencing with a barbed wire cap. Many have suffered damage over the years from falling trees, weather, and other impacts. The assessor will determine the damage at each location so the rangers can plan the repairs. Staff needs to resume vegetation monitoring to produce data relevant to the park's pending General Management Plan. The Wildlife Program is in the process of seeking funding to continue vegetation monitoring at the exclosures. Liability Insurance for Crew Chief: $250. This summer the park will establish the Bandelier Conservation Corps, a new program that the rangers hope to make permanent. The corps will perform trail and maintenance work in the park. Personnel will consist of an NPS crew chief, assistant crew chief, and six high school students from local communities, all of whom will be NPS employees. This program consists of high school students participating in overnight trips into the Bandelier Wilderness and to Rocky Mountain National Park. Superintendent Lott wants to provide the crew chief with liability insurance. By NPS policy, the park can only pay half of the cost, with the other half being the responsibility of the policy holder. Usually, only superintendents and law enforcement officers, whose salaries are much higher than that of a crew chief, use this insurance. Jason requests that the Friends assist with the chief's half of this expense. Cerro Grande 10-Year Newspaper Insert: $2,152.41. To acknowledge the tenth anniversary of the devastating Cerro Grande Fire that swept through Los Alamos on May 10, 2000, Bandelier produced a newspaper insert explaining their current fire management program. Since (and because of) Cerro Grande, local fire-fighting agencies established a central location with all equipment needed to combat wildfires. They now have interagency agreements allowing them to assist each other without the bureaucratic delays that hampered the response to the Cerro Grande Fire. For example, in 2000 there was no way to pay fire fighters from other agencies to help fight fires! The interagency firefighters are justly proud of their handling of the 2009 San Miguel lightning fire in the southern part of the Bandelier wilderness. They let it burn. They had crews on site to keep an eye on the fire and keep it out of Capulin Canyon. The fire cleaned out years of deadfall and skeletons of pinyon trees killed by bark beetles. There are some video clips from helicopters on Bandelier's website http://www.nps.gov/band/parkmgmt/ firemanagement.htm. Firefighters can't let a fire burn where it threatens property, but they plan to let natural fires burn wherever they can. Copies of the fire insert were distributed locally by our newspaper, the Los Alamos Monitor. I wanted to send a copy to all our out-of-town supporters, but not enough were printed. I've asked our webmaster, Laurie McGavran, to put the insert on our website. I do have some extras and would be happy to mail a hard copy to anyone who is interested. I have a PDF file that I can e- mail to you. It is only 660 KB. The rangers plan to issue their regular newspaper, the Tuff Times, later in the summer to showcase the remodeled Visitor Center. We will make sure our donors receive a copy. It is an interesting time at Bandelier. Some of you may have heard that there are movements afoot to establish a Manhattan Project National Monument headquartered in Los Alamos and to transfer the Valles Caldera National Preserve to the National Park Service. We haven't heard of the status lately, but Congress is pretty busy with other things this season. Very best wishes and a BIG THANK YOU for your support. Dorothy Hoard
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