Among the greatest parts of Pete Domenici's legacy is the Valles Caldera National Preserve. Fellow Sen. Jeff Bingaman and then-Rep. Tom Udall, también, had a hand in the congressional decision to buy the 89,000 acres of forest and meadows from a private ranching family, perhaps saving the land from disastrous development — though it was Domenici's clout on Capitol Hill that got the deal done.

But Domenici, known far and wide as a fiscal conservative, couldn't be seen spending 101 million federal dollars on nothing but a nature preserve/playground. Some of the money, he figured, should be returned to the treasury from a "working ranch" concept.

So the preserve, still in its first decade of existence, isn't run as a national park or forest; it's run by a nine-member board, most of whose members are presidentially appointed. Among the group's responsibilities is making the property a paying proposition — by 2015.

Gulp. That deadline is fast approaching, and prospects of profitability are, to put it mildly, bleak. The place is producing only about $800,000 a year in fees; a fifth of what's being spent to run it, at least during a recent year.

To make it truly self-sufficient, say consultants, would take an influx of hotels and campgrounds to make it a high-dollar recreation area. But development like that might not be much different than the previous owners could have done — and the public-lands aspects would be severely diminished.

Meanwhile, many New Mexicans are bridling at the lack of accessibility: So far, it amounts to guided tours, restricted hiking and high-cost fishing. Board members cite liability-insurance issues in their reluctance to throw open the gates to that delightful land.

So, with pretty good reason, the push is on to turn the Valles Caldera into a national park.

Would that be over Domenici's dead body? He left the Senate last year, replaced by the conservationist Tom Udall. There'd likely be two Senate votes from our state's congressional delegation, but would that be seen as a slap at Pete? Or did Domenici take the pay-its-way approach merely to gain support from fellow Republicans, figuring that, in time, it would — but not on his watch — become a national park? We'd like to think so; after all, there was a bit of the closet conservationist in Domenici, who also played a leading role in preserving the Valle Vidal in far Northern New Mexico from a gas-and-oil boom ...

But in these agonizing fiscal times, can the country afford another national park? Pretty clearly not. Many of the parks we have are in poor shape, and short-staffed to boot, as we're likely to be reminded during the new Ken Burns series on national parks now showing on public television.

So until the nation's economy recovers from its depression-like condition, and big-time revenues return, New Mexicans and our many visitors should be happy that our lawmakers have held the land's development at bay.

As for the deadline to show black ink, Bingaman, now our senior senator, Energy and Natural Resources Committee chairman and a Finance Committee member, should carry enough weight to extend it far into the future — maybe even to delete the self-sufficiency language in the law establishing the preserve. By that time, maybe the money will be there to establish and maintain a national park up in the Jemez Mountains.