The front seat of Bob Paramenter's pickup truck is cleaner than I expect it to be. When I asked him if I could ride along with him I made the request knowing most of the other members of the group would later give me a hard time and banish me to the bad seats in the van as punishment for taking the prime tour seat. Climbing up into his big pickup truck, however, Bob's comfortable manner, big sweat stained cowboy hat, and wide smile make me feel instantly at home.
We are visiting the Valles Caldera National Preserve. Driving up it looks as if you have suddenly come upon a giant bowl of grasslands framed by trees and mountains. And basically this is what you have come upon. The easiest way to conceptualize a caldera is to think of it as an inverse volcano. It is a volcano that, when it erupted, became became so hot and weak that it collapsed in upon itself--leaving the giant bowl that I earlier described. It essentially looks like a giant crater, a huge sunken area cupped by uplifts that created mountains. This formation is interesting because it creates an inverse tree line. On mountains the treeline is the point where temperatures become cold enough that most vegetation ceases to grow. On the caldera dense cool air sinks to the low points, the bowl area, and is trapped there-- which, along with the grazing elk which eat almost all new tree growth, is why the caldera looks like a giant mowed lawn.
Our first stop is one of the only old growth stands of ponderosa pine--or frankly any kind of tree on this 89,000 acre preserve. Bob tells us that the trees surrounding us are between one and two hundred years old and that they are some of the only that were spared when the land was clear cut in the early 1900s. He explains that this spread out 'park' like forest with grass and wildflowers growing underneath well spaced old growth is the model that they strive to achieve in their restoration and management projects. This model is ideal because of the ways that this type of forest will respond to fire compared to the thick 'dog hair' forests that tend to grow up after old growth is clear cut. This dog hair forest is incredibly susceptible to hot fires that burn everything they touch, leaving nothing behind and no ecological benefit for the forest. With these ideas in mind we load back into our vehicles to see more of the preserve.
About a mile down the road we stop to help one of Bob's biologists, a graduate student from Texas, tag a new born elk. They are currently tagging and tracking baby elk on the preserve in order to gain an understanding of why the mortality rates are so high among their elk population. Katie is the lucky student selected and while the rest of our group watches from a distance she and two biologists approach the baby and tag, weigh, and measure it.
Over the course of our day at the preserve Bob shows us restoration projects and data collection sites. The Preserve relies heavily on the data they collect from projects and collection sites because this information allows them to present factual information to justify their programs and policies. We look at riparian restoration, talk about animal tagging and data collection, and discuss and examine the ways in which properly managed forests can help to raise the water table-- a benefit to everyone in arid climates like this one.
As we leave the Preserve I feel both inspired and a little bit depressed. Talking to Bob it is impossible to ignore how much time, work, and thought goes into recreating what nature naturally makes and man destroys. Clear cutting done over a 40 year period will take years of time and hours of work to restore to its natural condition. Bob, however, seems to like this about his work and his hopeful attitude is infectious. As he says-- "well, at least I've got my work cut out for me until I retire. Things are good here on the Preserve and the future looks good as well."
-Maya Lemon
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