A natural gas pipeline built in the 1940s across northern New Mexico is being decommissioned by federal officials. Some of the final restoration work is underway.
The Valles Caldera National Preserve is where the retired natural gas pipeline exists and work is undereway on the third and final phase of decommissioning the line.
It crosses the caldera, a large area where once a volcano exists before it exploded, leaving behind a crater that could stretch for miles or even more greater distances.
This phase continues with restoring natural ecological processes to a nine-mile-long section disturbed by the pipeline corridor, including reducing erosion, reconnecting wetlands, recontouring to promote natural revegetation, and removing evidence of the access road. During this reclamation work, the project area along with trail access from the park’s east boundary will be closed for the remainder of the year.
The pipeline – built in the 1940s by the US Department of Energy to transport natural gas to Los Alamos National Laboratory – was retired in 2022 and restoration efforts began that same year.
The National Park Service (NPS) and New Mexico Gas Company have worked together to develop the restoration plan. This phase covers rehabilitating the landscape along the central and eastern nine miles of the pipeline route within the park, from the San Antonio Cabin area to the eastern boundary of the park.
The reclamation activities, funded entirely by New Mexico Gas Company, will involve smoothing out the old roadbed, removing berms, installing water bars and plugs, removing culverts, reconnecting wetlands bisected by the route, tilling and harrowing the soil in the reclaimed sections, and replanting with native plant seeds.
The entire route of the old pipeline corridor will be closed to all visitor use to allow vegetation to regrow. The NPS is working on a trail reroute for the 2025 season and will provide details early next year.
The work is expected to be mostly completed by early November. The NPS will monitor the restoration effort to evaluate vegetation establishment to ensure that erosion reduction measures are successful.
