Valles Caldera National Preserve turns 25 - Friday, July 25!

VCNP trail crew members work on the new Cabin District Interpretive Trail. Photo by D. Krueger/NPS

You are cordially invited to Valles Caldera National Preserve's 25th anniversary events on July 25-27, 2025! 

Celebrate Valles Caldera's 25th anniversary with NPS staff as they host a three-day special event featuring guest speakers, cultural demonstrators, ranger-guided programs, night sky viewing, and more. Activities will take place throughout the park, with most formal presentations happening at the Volcano Discovery Center in the park's Cabin District.Each day will include ranger programs and guest speakers, cultural performances, hands-on activities, and after-hours star-gazing, astrophotography, and silent disco. Due to safety concerns, reservations per vehicle are required for the evening programs (silent disco, star-gazing, and astrophotography).

Friday, July 25, VCNP will host two ribbon-cutting ceremonies:

• 10 a.m. to celebrate the opening of the new interpretive trail through the cabin district; and

• 2 p.m. to officially unveil the park’s brand new multimedia exhibit in the Volcano Discovery Center.

Visit the Valles Caldera website to plan time at this special event.

“We’ve been hard at work all these years getting Valles Caldera to a level everyone expects from a national park site,” Superintendent Jorge Silva-Bañuelos said. “We are excited for everyone to explore the new ways of experiencing the park, to learn about this special place, and to see what we have planned for the next phase of improvements.”

NOTE: Leashed and well-behaved pets are welcome at this event. They may accompany their humans throughout the Cabin District, on the Cerro La Jara Loop, Rabbit Mountain Loop, South Valle Grande Trail, in picnic areas, and in front-country parking lots. However, pets are not permitted inside of park facilities or in the backcountry. Thank you for understanding!

Valles Caldera National Preserve was established on July 25, 2000, as an unprecedented national experiment in public land management through the creation of the Valles Caldera Trust. Through the Trust, the U.S. Congress sought to evaluate the efficiency, economy, and effectiveness of decentralized public land management and ecosystem restoration. Although Valles Caldera National Preserve was transferred to the National Park Service in 2015, the Valles Caldera Trust's 15-year experiment in public land management continues to contribute to the national dialogue on the role of protected areas for long-term economic and environmental sustainability along with innovative approaches to place-based and science-based adaptive management.