El Malpais National Monument ⓘ

For centuries people have lived around and sometimes in the lava country. Ancient Indian civilizations crossed the lava flows with trail cairns and related to the landscape with stories and ceremony. Spanish empire builders detoured around it and gave it the name used today. Homesteaders settled along its edges and tried to make the desert bloom. The stories of all these people are preserved in the trail cairns, petroglyphs, wall remnants, and other fragments that remain in the backcountry.

The jagged volcanic landscape of what is now El Malpais National Monument has challenged many cultures as they have interacted with it through the years. Native American Cultures have had a long and continuous tradition with this landscape, and continue to call it home thousands of years later.

The lands of El Malpais have played an important role in the cultures of Acoma, Laguna, and Zuni for thousands of years. Puebloan Cultures and their ties to the land are still evident today in places like the Zuni-Acoma Trail, which was established as a way to connect Acoma Pueblo to Zuni Pueblo.

Early Spanish explorers came into what is now western New Mexico and El Malpais in search of wealth and new lands. When they encountered the rugged lava flows, they named this area El Malpais, Spanish for "the badlands" or "bad country." The phrase "el malpais" (pronounced ehl MAHL-pye-EES) already existed at the time, referring to rough and barren-looking landscapes typically formed from past volcanic activity.

The Navajo, an Athabaskan-related people originally from northern Canada and Alaska, began to settle in the southwest around the 1300s. Already a hunter-gatherer society, their adoption of Spanish horses helped to dramatically expand their range. As such, their interactions with other tribes and explorers quickly increased. Fort Wingate was established just south of modern-day Grants in 1862 to counter the increasing Navajo raiding parties. The area was already a stopping point along the edge of the malpais lava flows for people traveling west to Zuni Pueblo, but establishing a larger fort was a challenge because of the marshy terrain. The spring, then called Ojo de Gallo--later called El Gallo and then San Rafael--offered a rare source of water. The fort later played a small role in the Civil War.

By 1881, the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad forever transformed the malpais area. A small settlement soon grew up around the station which took the name of Grant. With the coming of the railroad and the establishment of Fort Wingate, the sheep and cattle industries flourished. As the railroad moved further west, new towns sprang up along the right of way. Logging in the Zuni Mountains soon began in earnest to supply the railroad, Fort Wingate and the new towns along the way.

The Great Depression of the 1930s drew more newcomers to the area in search of new opportunity. Western New Mexico was one of the few remaining places to build a homestead under the Homestead Act. While some families were able to make a living, others moved away and left their homesteads behind. Numerous structures still dot the El Malpais today, telling the story of people seeking to find a better life.

Although the El Malpais landscape witnessed historical events around it, McCartys Crater bears the scars of when the landscape was involved. A nine-square-mile area within the lava flows was used for aerial bombing target practice that began in 1943. The McCartys cinder cone was intermittently used as a practice target for ten months. The range closed in April of the following year under the premise that "...construction and maintenance of targets is impracticable..." The same range was returned to the public in 1947, and unexploded ordinance collection efforts occurred in 1953 and 1990.

The 1950s ushered in one of the biggest changes to the malpais since the coming of the railroad: uranium. Large quantities of this chalky, yellow mineral were discovered around Grants. As demand grew during the Cold War, the town expanded rapidly to accomodate the new mine workers and their families.

Route 66 contributed to the growth of many communities its path, including Grants. Just as the Tanscontinental Railroad vastly improved transportation in the 19th century, Route 66 opened much of the American west as the nation's first all-weather highway linking the midwest to California. It also allowed millions of travelers to experience the scenic beauty and human history of western states like New Mexico.

By the early 1980s, the market and demand for uranium waned. As it had many times before with different industries, this boom finally ended. In late 1987, after many years of negotiation, the malpais area finally became El Malpais National Monument.

Download a PDF of "In the Land of Frozen Fires A History of Occupation in El Malpais Country" for a more detailed and in-depth history of El Malpais.

Bald eagles and golden eagles soar in the winter, migrating songbirds dart through in spring and fall, and year-long residents like white-throated swifts and canyon wrens are just some of the more than 190 bird species you'll encounter at El Malpais National Monument. A variety of habitats--such as andstone cliffs, shortgrass prairies, scrubland, and rugged lava flows--offer a variety of birds to watch any time of year!

Great birdwatching sites along Highway 117 include Sandstone Bluffs , La Ventana Natural Arch and Narrows Picnic Areas. Highway 53 on the west side of the monument offers access to the El Calderon area, Zuni-Acoma Trail , and County Road 42 . Summer monsoons create vernal, or seasonal, ponds along roadsides that attract visitors such as great blue herons. Always be aware of your surroundings while bird watching.

While bird watching, you can help the Natural Resource rangers track what birds come and go from El Malpais. Although most monitoring occurs on the east and northwestern sides of the monument, there are 114,000 for birds to live. You can check on sightings by logging into the National Aububon Society's eBird website. Bar charts offer what time of year you may observe certain species. You can also input a particular species or region on eBird's Explore main page. Llearn more about volunteering with the bird monitoring program on our Volunteering page .

El Malpais offers both open scrubland and grasslands for raptors such as red-tailed hawks ( Buteo jamaicensis ), American kestrels ( Falco sparverius ), and the occasional peregrine falcon ( Falco peregrinus ) to soar and hunt over.

More elusive, and nocturnal, great horned owls ( Bubo virginianus ) and western screech-owls ( Otus kennicottii ) perch in the more established forests and individual trees in and around the lava flows.

Made famous from cartoons, the Greater Roadrunner ( Geococcyx californianus ) is not as common at El Malpais as other parts of the region. Sightings aren't exactly rare, but also not common since roadrunners prefer open areas to capture prey. Prey items include scorpions, rattlesnakes, spiders, and a number of other small animals. On occasion, these birds may team up to capture larger rattlesnakes. Related to cuckoos, roadrunners can fly but prefer to remain on the ground. Roadrunners earn their namesake by reaching each speeds of 18 miles per hour (29 kmh). When not running, it may be easy to miss them: they easily blend in with their surroundings with a brown, white, and buff body and a shaggy, crested head.

A full list of El Malpais birds is under construction and will be available for future download.

In fact, the oldest Douglas fir trees in the American Southwest are found in the basalt lava flows on the west side of the park. The extreme climatic conditions of the area cause the trees to grow very slowly, but their isolation on the lava flows has protected them from forest fires for centuries. In other areas, small, gnarled trees form surreal miniature forests. Despite their tiny size some are many hundreds of years old.

Flowers abound throughout the monument creating splashes of color contrasting lava backdrops and colorful carpets in meadows. An array of flowers can be found at various times of the year including indian paintbrush (Castilleja miniata), blanket flower ( Gaillardia aristata ), desert globemallow ( Sphaeralcea ambigua ) and apache plume ( Fallugia paradoxa ) are but a few of the many flowering plants that call El Malpais home.

A variety of cactus can be found throughout El Malpais. Prickly pear with its yellow blooms and claret cup with its reddish/orange blooms can bee seem poking up through cracks in the lava adding color to a harsh landscape. In the lower areas of the monument the taller cane cholla ( Cylindropuntia imbricata ) adds a magenta splash of color.