Greetings Friends of Bandelier!
Once again it is my great honor to express our gratitude for the continued support and advocacy that Bandelier has enjoyed by the members and supporters of the Friends of Bandelier. We could not achieve what we have without your support.
As I’m sure you know, 2025 was a challenging year for the Monument and for the park service as a whole. Even with those challenges, I am proud to report that we are still moving forward with the massive utility improvement project that we expect to begin in earnest this fall. We were also able to complete all the repairs to the Alcove House Trail stemming from the flash flood we had in September of 2024 and we were able to re-open Alcove House to the public. Also in 2025, our exceptional trails, maintenance and law enforcement staff undertook the very complicated task of replacing all the ladders at Alcove House. The improved ladders should help visitors access the site, hopefully for the next decade. We completed the visitor barrier in Cave Kiva, thanks to the talented metal fabricators and carpenters in our maintenance division and were able to re-open Cave Kiva, after the vandalism incident that forced the closure back in 2022. This project completed the mitigation commitments we made to our tribal partners to ensure the site was protected in a way that honored their ancestral connections to the site.
The Monument continues to work toward fulfilling our commitments to San Ildefonso Pueblo by completing the trail and visitor improvements at the Tsankawi Unit. This spring, you may have seen that the unit was closed for several days to allow us to fly building and trail material up to the mesa top via helicopter. We are hoping to join with San Ildefonso tribal members in completing the construction project later this summer.
I am proud to say that we were able to accomplish all this even with the added challenges we faced as a park in 2025. We hope to continue to fulfill our mission in 2026 even though we anticipate even more challenges. Though we are still under a hiring freeze for permanent positions as the administration moves toward its vision of a streamlined federal workforce, we have been given permission to hire additional seasonal workers to meet the secretaries’ mandate to keep parks open and accessible to the public. Though we are doing our best to meet that goal, as people in the Los Alamos area know, housing is very challenging for people making entry level wages so we are unlikely to be able to hire the number of seasonal workers that would be needed to offset the losses to our permanent work force. We also will struggle to meet the supervisory needs of an increased seasonal staff with fewer experienced staff to train them and oversee their work.
It is in challenging environments such as this that the support of a robust support group like the Friends of Bandelier becomes critical. The Friends of Bandelier continue to manage the campground firewood program, even though the program costs more than it brings in. This is a vital function that keeps visitors from damaging the sparse and fragile vegetation of the mesa tops in search of firewood. The Friends continue to support our cultural demonstrators, a program that helps visitors understand and connect with the people that have ongoing and ancestral ties to the park. The Friends assist the park by covering travel and hospitality expenses essential for consultations with our affiliated tribes. This support enables us to listen to and prioritize the voices of those directly connected to the park. We are grateful for your support.
Given our reduced capacity for building on the visions we outlined in our 2022 strategic plan, this year I have asked the Friends to work on building and expanding their organization since I foresee the need for the Friends of Bandelier to become more and more important in the coming years. For those of you that remain active members of the Friends, and for those of you that volunteer in one way or another with the Friends or with the park, I extend my deepest thanks and gratitude for your service. This is a time where I would encourage you to think about other ways you could help the organization grow in a moment where we are more and more reliant on the support of the people that hold the Monument close to their hearts. If you have other friends, family or neighbors that also appreciate the unique and special place that is in their backyard, or has a special place in their hearts from past visits, please encourage them to join you in becoming a member of the Friends of Bandelier.
Again, I am grateful for the wide range of support that the Friends of Bandelier provide the park. It is support from people like you who support the Friends of Bandelier that lifts up our staff and motivates us to keep doing the hard work to ensure that the resources are preserved, that the stories of the people and history of those who came before us are told fully and honestly, and that our visitors both enjoy their visit, but also leave with a different perspective enhanced by the powerful and sacred sites they have visited. Thank you again for your commitment and support. It truly inspires us and we are grateful!
Sincerely,
Patrick Suddath, Superintendent