As a newspaper photographer, in 1992, I wanted to see how a rancher with a cattle lease on the Valle Vidal was managing this land. As you probably know by now, this 100,000 acres was divided from the Vermejo Park and deeded to the citizens of the United States by Penzoil Corporation in 1982 in lieu of taxes owed the IRS.
This 100,000 acres straddles the Rock Wall, a significant geological feature running north/south into Colorado. The Wall divides the Valle Vidal. As one descends the escarpment created by the Rock Wall, the vegas open out into a vast grassland with islands of pine forest as far as the eye can see. It is immense.
The rancher saddled a horse for me to ride so I could see what the Valle Vidal was about. I remember him telling me that it would be a miracle if this land continued on, in an undisturbed manner. He told me that I was indeed quite fortunate to ride a horse across a place that could take me back in time. I felt 100 years strip away as we rode across the vegas and through the pines.
The rancher, a native northern New Mexican, being somewhat skeptical of me (thinking I might be a hard left green) was forthcoming about informing me of all that had been done to manage the resources of the Valle Vidal. I was shown historical wagon trails that had been carefully reseeded. Areas of erosion had been restored by native grass seed sown on the soil covered with biodegradable mesh.
During the next two summers, I was privileged to be part of the crew herding that rancher’s cattle. I learned how to mend fence. I learned what a 1,000 head herd does when an F14 skims just overhead. That stampede took 3 days to bring them back in. (I wonder what the elk herds do when this occurs.) I learned how to haul trailers. Just before dark, I can still see a herd of elk with the lead bull, bugling. I can still hear that keen, primal sound throughout my body.
Part of a cowboy’s job is to keep the herd from settling down into the creeks and push them toward galvanized water tanks kept filled by windmill driven wells.
I worked with a cowboy from Maxwell, in his early 20s with long dark hair to his waist. He’d been diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. As the summer days drew to a close, his hair fell to the ground as a result of the chemotherapy and radiation treatments he’d received. He didn’t miss a day riding in the Valle Vidal otherwise. He died doing what he loved best, cowboying the Valle Vidal.
After those summers, I returned many times to the Valle Vidal to meditate and be reinvigorated by the silence and the solitude. Nowhere have I felt the profound sense of a Greater Power than here.
The inspiration I received during my time on the Valle Vidal is still directly addressed in my life and my work. Today, as a professional painting artist, the spirit of the Valle Vidal continues to infuse the essence of my paintings.
The Valle Vidal has had to be defended numerous times from intrusion. I attended a hearing in Angel Fire to keep the United States Air Force from flying low missions over the Valle Vidal in the name of the ‘security of the people of the United States’.
Again, tonight, I testify to you, the personnel of the United States Forest Service and my neighbors, that this land called the Valle Vidal, is one place that I strongly believe must be kept from coalbed methane mining or any other kind of development that will destroy what is so important to me. More important, may the miracle that the rancher spoke of, indeed, keep the Valle Vidal undisturbed.
Thank you for this forum and your presence in this meeting.
