Posted at: 08/26/2009 4:02 PM
By: DEBORAH BAKER Associated Press Writer

Valles Caldera trustees lease conference center

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) - The trustees of the Valles Caldera National Preserve have leased a facility in nearby Jemez Springs for an education and conference center.

The 15,000-square-foot building, owned by a religious order, formerly was used as a nursing home and has 25 bedrooms. It's about 20 miles away from the preserve, a former cattle ranch that the federal government bought in 2000.

Executive Director Gary Bratcher signed the lease Tuesday and says the conference center will be ready early next year. He says it will allow the preserve to ramp up its science and education programs immediately and not have to build a center on the 89,000-acre preserve, a long and costly process.

The conference center is expected to be used by school groups and other organizations and pay for itself.