Cruces Basin Wilderness is a

wilderness area Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural) are Earth's natural environments that have not been significantly modified by human activity, or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally ...

located within the

Carson National Forest Carson National Forest is a United States National Forest, national forest in northern New Mexico, United States. It encompasses 6,070 square kilometers (1.5 million acres) and is administered by the United States Forest Service. The Forest Serv ...

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

just south of the

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

border. The area was added to the

National Wilderness Preservation System The National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS) of the United States protects federal government of the United States, federally managed Wilderness, wilderness areas designated for preservation in their natural condition. Activity on formally ...

on December 19, 1980 by Public Law 95-550. The wilderness is approximately in length from north to south and in width from east to west. It consists of the

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

s of three small creeks, Cruces, Beaver, and Diablo-Escondido, which join each other and flow into the

Rio de los Pinos The Rio de los Pinos (also called Los Pinos River) is a river in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico. Course The river rises high in Colorado's South San Juan Wilderness near the Continental Divide in Conejos County, Colorado. From there, i ...

, a tributary of the

Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( or ) in the United States or the Río Bravo (del Norte) in Mexico (), also known as Tó Ba'áadi in Navajo language, Navajo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the Southwestern United States a ...

, at the northern edge of the wilderness. The western edge of the wilderness is near the

Continental Divide Trail The Continental Divide National Scenic Trail (in short Continental Divide Trail, CDT) is a United States National Scenic Trail with a length measured by the Continental Divide Trail Coalition of between the U.S. border with Chihuahua (state), Chi ...

. With elevations ranging from , the wilderness basin contains forest, meadows, and rock features.

Flora and fauna

The area consists of spruce-fir, ponderosa pine, and aspen forests as well as high elevation grassy meadows. A large forest fire in 1979 cleared

old-growth forest An old-growth forest or primary forest is a forest that has developed over a long period of time without disturbance. Due to this, old-growth forests exhibit unique ecological features. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Natio ...

, making room for the aspen forests and meadows present today. The area provides habitat for elk, deer, mountain lion, black bear and coyote. Creeks contain brook, brown, and rainbow trout, as well as beaver.

References

{{Protected areas of New Mexico Wilderness areas of New Mexico Carson National Forest Protected areas of Rio Arriba County, New Mexico Protected areas established in 1980 1980 establishments in New Mexico