The Rio Grande del Norte National Monument is an approximately area of public lands in

Taos County, New Mexico Taos County is a county in the U.S. state of New Mexico. As of the 2010 census, the population was 32,937. Its county seat is Taos. The county was formed in 1852 as one of the original nine counties in New Mexico Territory. Taos County comp ...

, proclaimed as a

national monument A national monument is a monument constructed in order to commemorate something of importance to national heritage, such as a country's founding, independence, war, or the life and death of a historical figure. The term may also refer to a spe ...

on March 25, 2013, by President Barack Obama under the provisions of the

Antiquities Act The Antiquities Act of 1906 (, , ), is an act that was passed by the United States Congress and signed into law by Theodore Roosevelt on June 8, 1906. This law gives the President of the United States the authority to, by presidential pro ...

. It consists of the

Rio Grande Gorge The Rio Grande Gorge is a geological feature in northern New Mexico where the watercourse of the Rio Grande follows a tectonic chasm. Beginning near the Colorado border, the approximately gorge runs from northwest to southwest of Taos, New Mexic ...

and surrounding lands, managed by the

Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands. Headquartered in Washington DC, and with oversight over , it governs one eighth of the country's ...

(BLM). The monument includes two BLM recreation areas, a portion of the

Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( and ), known in Mexico as the Río Bravo del Norte or simply the Río Bravo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The length of the Rio G ...

designated as a

Wild and Scenic River The National Wild and Scenic Rivers System was created by the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968 (Public Law 90-542), enacted by the U.S. Congress to preserve certain rivers with outstanding natural, cultural, and recreational values in a free- ...

, and the Red River Wild and Scenic River. On March 12, 2019, the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act designated two federal wilderness areas within the monument: the Rio San Antonio Wilderness in the northwest corner, and the

Cerro del Yuta Wilderness Cerro del Yuta Wilderness is a 13,420-acre (5,625 ha) wilderness area in the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Established in 2019, this Wilderness is cente ...

in the northeast corner. RGDNMap

Environment

The monument includes portions of the

Taos Plateau volcanic field The Taos Plateau volcanic field is an area of extensive volcanism in Taos County, New Mexico, United States. It is the largest volcanic field in the Rio Grande Rift, spreading over . The total erupted volume is estimated at . The age of most of ...

, cut by the gorges of the Rio Grande and the Rio San Antonio. Significant volcanic peaks include Cerro de la Olla, Cerro Chiflo, and Ute Mountain which, at ft, is the tallest peak entirely within the national monument. San Antonio Mountain, which at is the tallest peak in the volcanic field, is only partially within the bounds of the monument. The volcanoes and the rhyolite-basalt plateau, as well as the course of the Rio Grande, are the result of spreading along the

Rio Grande rift The Rio Grande rift is a north-trending continental rift zone. It separates the Colorado Plateau in the west from the interior of the North American craton on the east. The rift extends from central Colorado in the north to the state of Chihuahu ...

, that transects north–south from Colorado to Mexico. Large springs, some of them hot, are believed to be the outflow from flooded

lava tube A lava tube, or pyroduct, is a natural conduit formed by flowing lava from a volcanic vent that moves beneath the hardened surface of a lava flow. If lava in the tube empties, it will leave a cave. Formation A lava tube is a type of lava ...

systems. Ecosystems vary from willow and cottonwood stands along the rivers to sagebrush plains on the plateau, transitioning to pinyon pine in the hills and

ponderosa pine ''Pinus ponderosa'', commonly known as the ponderosa pine, bull pine, blackjack pine, western yellow-pine, or filipinus pine is a very large pine tree species of variable habitat native to mountainous regions of western North America. It is the ...

and Douglas-fir in the mountains. The monument provides habitat for a variety of resident and migrant birds. Large mammals include elk,

mule deer The mule deer (''Odocoileus hemionus'') is a deer indigenous to western North America; it is named for its ears, which are large like those of the mule. Two subspecies of mule deer are grouped into the black-tailed deer. Unlike the related whi ...

pronghorn The pronghorn (, ) (''Antilocapra americana'') is a species of artiodactyl (even-toed, hoofed) mammal indigenous to interior western and central North America. Though not an antelope, it is known colloquially in North America as the American a ...

and

bighorn sheep The bighorn sheep (''Ovis canadensis'') is a species of sheep native to North America. It is named for its large horns. A pair of horns might weigh up to ; the sheep typically weigh up to . Recent genetic testing indicates three distinct subsp ...

, as well as predators such as

cougar The cougar (''Puma concolor'') is a large cat native to the Americas. Its range spans from the Canadian Yukon to the southern Andes in South America and is the most widespread of any large wild terrestrial mammal in the Western Hemisphere. ...

bobcat The bobcat (''Lynx rufus''), also known as the red lynx, is a medium-sized cat native to North America. It ranges from southern Canada through most of the contiguous United States to Oaxaca in Mexico. It is listed as Least Concern on the ...

, river otters,

black bear Black bear or Blackbear may refer to: Animals * American black bear (''Ursus americanus''), a North American bear species * Asian black bear (''Ursus thibetanus''), an Asian bear species Music * Black Bear (band), a Canadian First Nations group ...

s and

coyote The coyote (''Canis latrans'') is a species of canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the wolf, and slightly smaller than the closely related eastern wolf and red wolf. It fills much of the same ecological nich ...

s. The plateau provides winter range for many of the larger grazing animals.

History

The valley of the Rio Grande has been inhabited at least to the Archaic period, as evidenced by

petroglyph A petroglyph is an image created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions ...

s on exposed rock surfaces, and by the remains of stone tools quarried in the mountains. San Antonio Mountain was a significant source of

dacite Dacite () is a volcanic rock formed by rapid solidification of lava that is high in silica and low in alkali metal oxides. It has a fine-grained ( aphanitic) to porphyritic texture and is intermediate in composition between andesite and rhyo ...

for tools. Other artifacts include potsherds, projectile points and the remains of

pit house A pit-house (or ''pit house'', ''pithouse'') is a house built in the ground and used for shelter. Besides providing shelter from the most extreme of weather conditions, these structures may also be used to store food (just like a pantry, a larder ...

s. In historic times the

Jicarilla Apache Jicarilla Apache (, Jicarilla language: Jicarilla Dindéi), one of several loosely organized autonomous bands of the Eastern Apache, refers to the members of the Jicarilla Apache Nation currently living in New Mexico and speaking a Southern Atha ...

and Utes, as well as the peoples of

Taos Pueblo Taos Pueblo (or Pueblo de Taos) is an ancient pueblo belonging to a Taos-speaking (Tiwa) Native American tribe of Puebloan people. It lies about north of the modern city of Taos, New Mexico. The pueblos are considered to be one of the oldest ...

and Picuris Pueblo have inhabited the area. Settlement in the area was not successful, leaving the abandoned remains of early 20th century homesteads, mainly in the area of Cerro Montoso.

Activities

Rafting and boating through the Rio Grande Gorge is a popular activity. Rapids vary between Class II and Class V. Rafting and boating trips are available from commercial outfitters. Mountain biking is permitted on designated trails and roads. Off-highway vehicles are permitted on designated roads. A number of paved highways cross the monument, including the Wild Rivers Backcountry Byway, New Mexico Highway 570, and U.S. Routes 64 and 285. Route 64 crosses the Rio Grande Gorge on the high Rio Grande Gorge Bridge. Fishing for

brown Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing or painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors orange and black. In the RGB color model ...

and

rainbow A rainbow is a meteorological phenomenon that is caused by reflection, refraction and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky. It takes the form of a multicoloured circular arc. Rainbows c ...

trout and

northern pike The northern pike (''Esox lucius'') is a species of carnivorous fish of the genus ''Esox'' (the pikes). They are typical of brackish water, brackish and fresh waters of the Northern Hemisphere (''i.e.'' holarctic in distribution). They are kno ...

is available on the Red River and the Rio Grande, subject to New Mexico regulations. Hunting is also permitted in the monument, subject to game regulations. There are five campgrounds located within the monument, one in the river gorge.

Administration

The

is administered by the Bureau of Land Management as a unit of the

National Landscape Conservation System National Conservation Lands, formally known as the National Landscape Conservation System, is a collection of lands in 873 federally recognized areas considered to be the crown jewels of the American West.Wild Rivers Recreation Area Wild Rivers Recreation Area is located in north central New Mexico within the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument. Two rivers that run through the park, the Rio Grande and Red River are National Wild and Scenic Rivers. NM 378 that traverses t ...

near

Questa Questa is a village in Taos County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 1,770 at the 2010 census. The village has trails into the Rio Grande Gorge, trout fishing, and mountain lakes with trails that access the Sangre de Cristo Mount ...

. The Rio Grande Gorge Visitor Center is near the Orilla Verde Recreation Area near Pilar. The monument is administered from the BLM's Taos field office.

References

External links

Bureau of Land Management: official Rio Grande del Norte National Monument website

Flickr—BLM: Photo gallery of Rio Grande del Norte NM.
{{authority control National Monuments in New Mexico Rio Grande Bureau of Land Management National Monuments Bureau of Land Management areas in New Mexico Protected areas of Rio Arriba County, New Mexico Protected areas of Taos County, New Mexico Protected areas established in 2013 2013 establishments in New Mexico National Monuments designated by Barack Obama Units of the National Landscape Conservation System