Wildfires Transform Valles Caldera
NOT FAR BEHIND the ranger station, the forest ends. Sunlight floods over grasses, wildflowers, and burnt trunks still standing after the most recent wildfire. The 2013 Thompson Ridge Fire charred the…
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Category: Nature & Wildlife
Engage with Valles Caldera Events
FOOTSTEPS CRUNCH ON a patchy crust of snow as Ranger Adam Dean hikes out to the sunny side of Cerro La Jara, one of the tree-shrouded lava domes in the caldera. He follows a trail visible only as a…
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Valles Caldera Provides Fertile Research
THE JEMEZ MOUNTAINS SALAMANDER grows to all of three inches long and hides under fallen logs and rocks, where moist soil allows it to breathe through its skin. For nearly a decade, Nancy Karraker, a…
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Melissa Fu Tells the Caldera's Story
A LTHOUGH LOS ALAMOS native Melissa Fu moved to the United Kingdom 18 years ago, she says she’s “always plotting” ways to return home. In September, the author joined the inaugural artist-in-residence…
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Let the Valles Caldera Inspire You
RESIDENT ARTISTS The artists-in-residence program hosts six artists from mid-May through late October. Each one runs at least one public event. In 2024, offerings included nature journaling, drawing…
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A Jemez Pueblo Victory
I N 2012, Jemez Pueblo tribal and religious leadership filed a lawsuit to reclaim the Valles Caldera as their aboriginal and most sacred lands. In October 2024, a settlement between the National Park…
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Find Vast Opportunities at Valles Caldera
WHEN JORGE SILVA-BAÑUELOS showed National Park Service staff the 40-acre parcel of Sulphur Springs land he wanted to add to the Valles Caldera National Preserve, they were more than a little hesitant…
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Written in the Trees
THE EYE FOLLOWED ME. As I bent around the aspen for a better look at the symbol carved into its trunk, a gray pupil seemed to track me. A wind stirred in the forest crown. In the dappled light, I…
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Restoring Life to the Lordsburg Playa
IN THE FIRST BLUSH of dawn, the Lordsburg Playa conjures a mirage—a layer of dew rising from its fractured, elephant-skin crust, glistening with bright promise. Maybe the land has learned something, I…
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5 Must-Do Nature Tours
Randall Davey Audubon Center & Sanctuary. Take a Friday-afternoon docent-led tour of the mid-1900s Randall Davey House and Studio at the property, which also offers free guided bird walks every…
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