"He builded better than he knew; / The conscious stone to beauty grew."
The lines are Ralph Waldo Emerson's. A traveler named Livingston borrowed them after camping for nearly three weeks beside the rounded travertine domes north of the village. In a commentary for the Santa Fe New Mexican, Jemez Springs resident Tom Swetnam tells that story to open his case for the landmark. Most people in the valley pass the formation on NM 4 so often that it becomes scenery. This year the Village of Jemez Springs went on record saying it needs more than that.
Soda Dam has had a public owner for almost fifty years. What it has never had is the funding, the staff, the parking and the interpretation that public ownership was meant to bring. The village's 2026 resolution doesn't ask whether the dam should be protected. It asks which agency should finally do the job.
A promise made in 1977
The current wave of concern traces back to a highway project. Swetnam writes that in early 1961, the state Highway Department, now the New Mexico Department of Transportation, dynamited the west end of the dam to improve State Road 4. The paved road you drive today runs through that blasted gap. Hot spring water that used to build the main dam now comes out of the cut and runs down the side of the road. Without that water, the eastern domes over the Jemez River have stopped growing, and Swetnam describes them as only loosely attached to the bedrock beneath.
After the blasting, according to Swetnam, Jemez Valley residents campaigned to move the dam into public ownership. By 1977 the private owners had donated all of the land to the U.S. Forest Service, which promised to develop a plan to preserve the site and interpret it for the public. "Sadly, that promise was not fully kept," he writes.
In his telling, the obstacle has been money and staff rather than willingness. He writes that the Forest Service wants to build interpretive programs and protective infrastructure at Soda Dam but hasn't been able to because of a lack of funds and personnel. He also describes what is missing on the ground today: no interpretive signs, no protective walkways, and few effective barriers. On a typical weekend, he writes, dozens to hundreds of people climb around the dam, including onto the fragile domes above the river.
What the stone is holding
The empty stretch where signs would go matters more when you know what the site holds. Swetnam's commentary lays out the history:
- About 500,000 years ago, the oldest of the travertine dams formed in San Diego Canyon. It was roughly 100 times the volume of today's Soda Dam, and its remnants still sit on the canyon walls above.
- About 50,000 years ago, the most recent catastrophic flood tore out the larger dams and drained the lakes behind them.
- About 5,000 years ago, the modern Soda Dam began to form. Hot water rising from the Valles Caldera dissolves ancient marine limestone and deposits it as travertine where the Jemez Fault crosses the canyon.
- In 1934 and 1935, excavations in Jemez Cave, which sits inside the oldest and largest dam just above Soda Dam on the west side, turned up hundreds of corncob fragments carbon-dated to as much as 3,000 years old. That makes the site one of the two oldest agricultural sites in Northern New Mexico.
- In 1961, the road cut split the dam.
- In 1977, the land became fully public.
Swetnam also notes that the Hemish, or Jemez, people have ancient historical and cultural ties to Soda Dam. Because the travertine builds up in layers much like tree rings, he argues the formation still holds climate, water and human history that future research could recover. For readers who want the longer version, his book The Jemez Mountains: A Cultural and Natural History came out from UNM Press in April 2025. It runs 320 pages in 40 short chapters.
The cave that is already closed
Some of the damage has already led to a closure. Swetnam writes that rock climbers once drilled steel bolts into the roof of Jemez Cave, and the cave was then closed to all public access.
The Santa Fe National Forest's current Jemez Cave closure order prohibits entry into the cave and the area around it. That area starts 50 feet upslope from the cave roof, extends 50 feet to either side of the mouth, and runs downhill to the NM 4 right-of-way. The order took effect May 1, 2025, and runs through April 30, 2027 unless it is rescinded. Its stated purpose is to protect the cave's natural and cultural resources "until the current damage to natural and cultural resources can be assessed and a long-term management strategy developed."
So the closure is explicitly a temporary measure while a long-term strategy gets written. That is the same question the village took up this year.
What the village actually voted for
On February 17, 2026, the Jemez Springs Village Council approved Resolution 2026-006, "in support of new and improved management of Soda Dam for preservation and education." Trustees Martinez, McCue and Wilson voted aye on a roll call.
The resolution doesn't pick an agency. It backs new and improved management after a public review of the alternatives, and it names three:
| Option in Resolution 2026-006 | What Swetnam's commentary says about it |
|---|---|
| Transfer to the National Park Service | Proposes the Valles Caldera National Preserve as the specific home |
| Transfer to New Mexico State Historic Sites | Proposes the Department of Cultural Affairs' Jemez Historic Site |
| Stay with the U.S. Forest Service, with renewed commitment and funding | Describes the agency as interested but short of funds and staff |
The resolution adds a fourth element that applies to every option: the Pueblo of Jemez should be included in a co-stewardship role.
The minutes also record the discussion at the meeting. Swetnam described a meeting with Senator Martin Heinrich's staff where, by his account, the Forest Service expressed interest in managing Soda Dam better but said it needed funding. He reported that the senator's office has since sent a letter to the Chief of the Forest Service encouraging improved management. He listed the physical work he believes the site needs, including parking lots, road improvements and a trail with bridges, and acknowledged it would be a long-term process. He also reported that Pueblo of Jemez Governor John Galvan and cultural resources officer Chris Toya were enthusiastic, and that the Pueblo might prepare a similar resolution for the congressional delegation. Mayor Michael Nealeigh said his office would send the signed resolution to the congressional and state legislative delegations and to the Forest Service.
Two of the candidates already run sites up the road
You don't have to imagine what the other two options would look like. Both agencies already run sites within a short drive of Soda Dam, and their late-fall schedules show what managed access means in practice.
The Valles Caldera National Preserve sets vehicle hours of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. outside its summer season. The Volcano Discovery Center is open 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and may close after winter storms until roads and parking are plowed. Motorized backcountry access is seasonal, running May 15 to November 15. The pedestrian pass-through gates stay open dawn to dusk year-round for hiking, skiing and snowshoeing. Vehicle access closes on Thanksgiving, November 26, and on Christmas Day.
The Jemez Historic Site, where the Gisewa ruins stand just down the road from the dam, also closes on Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Soda Dam has never had gates, posted hours, plowing schedules or holiday closures. At the dam, the only formal boundary on the ground is the cave closure, and that is a temporary order.
The Pueblo's own approach is relevant to the co-stewardship idea too. The Pueblo of Jemez welcomes the public at certain events, including the San Diego Feast Day on November 12, and sends visitors to the Walatowa Welcome Center for information on other public events. Its visitor etiquette rules prohibit photography, recording and sketching, and they describe feast-day dances as religious ceremonies, not performances. The Pueblo already runs its public days by clear rules about how visitors behave, and the resolution asks that it have a co-steward's role at Soda Dam.
Where it stands this fall
The most recent public record is brief. The draft minutes of the September 15, 2026 council meeting say Mayor Nealeigh is still taking part in the "committee to save Soda Dam." The agenda for the council's October 20 meeting at 6 p.m. has no Soda Dam item. The September minutes give no project details, funding or schedule. The question the resolution asks, which agency carries the 1977 promise forward and with what funding, is still open.
The Jemez Cave order runs through April 30, 2027, unless it is rescinded, and its stated purpose ties the closure to assessing the damage and developing a long-term management strategy. Council agendas and minutes are posted on the Village of Jemez Springs meetings page.
The dam remains public land, crossed by the 1961 road cut, and no agency has yet been named to finish the preservation and interpretation work promised for it in 1977.
At Origins Realty Group, we follow the Jemez Valley closely because places like Soda Dam are part of what living here means. If you'd like to talk about the canyon, its history, or the community decisions shaping it, we're always glad to hear from you. Connect with a Santa Fe real estate expert who knows Highway 4 mile by mile.
