The Valles Caldera is truly unique working ranch on an historic Mexican land grant known as Baca Location No. 1. It comprises most of a collapsed, extinct volcano known as the Valles Caldera. The Valles Caldera is a beautiful place with rolling meadows, crystal-clear streams, roaming elk, and vast stands of Ponderosa pines.

I have visited the Baca Ranch, and I can tell you that it is one striking piece of property. The Valles Caldera is one of the world's largest resurgent lava domes. The depression from a huge volcanic eruption over a million years ago is more than a half-mile deep and fifteen miles across at its widest point. The land was originally granted to the heirs of Don Luis Maria Cabeza de Vaca under a settlement enacted by Congress in 1860. Since that time, the property has remained virtually intact as a single, large, tract of land. The careful husbandry of the Ranch by the Dunigan family provided a model for sustainable land development and use. The Ranch's natural beauty and abundant resources, and its proximity to large municipal populations provide numerous recreational opportunities for hiking, fishing, camping, cross-country skiing, and hunting. The Baca continues to be a unique working ranch. It is not a wilderness area, and can best be protected for future generations by continuing its operation as a working asset through its unique management structure. The Valles Caldera National Preserve will serve as a model to explore alternative means of federal management and will provide the American people with opportunities to enjoy the Valles Caldera and its many resources.

I am very proud to have introduced the Valles Caldera Preservation Act. The passage of this legislation authorized the Secretary of Agriculture to acquire this property for the public. The purchasing the Baca Ranch was a long time in the making, and the innovative trust arrangement which governs the Valles Caldera is as unique as the property itself.