El Malpais National Monument

When the climate changes enough, the vegetation communities growing in any given place will also change. Under an expanded bimodal climate zone, some plant communities in western national parks are more likely to change than others. National Park Service ecologists and partners investigated the future conditions that may force some of this change. Having this information can help park managers decide whether to resist, direct, or accept the change.

El Malpais fire team members joined with local and area fire crews to present a community outreach event on March 30, 2013 to kick off Wildfire Prevention Week in New Mexico. The local government and fire department and the USDA Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management collaborated to educate the public about fire–adapted human communities.

The approximately 1,000 ac Big Tubes Prescribed Burn was completed at El Malpais National Monument. May 11-12, 2016. The primary objective of this prescribed burn was to improve the grassland and forest health and reduce the amount of excessive fuel build-up. Fire is a natural part of the El Malpais ecosystem and reducing fuel build-up helps ensure the resiliency of fire dependent ecosystems.

The Cenozoic Era (66 million years ago [MYA] through today) is the "Age of Mammals." North America’s characteristic landscapes began to develop during the Cenozoic. Birds and mammals rose in prominence after the extinction of giant reptiles. Common Cenozoic fossils include cat-like carnivores and early horses, as well as ice age woolly mammoths.

Across the US, changes in water availability are altering which plants grow where. These changes are evident at a broad scale. But not all areas experience the same climate in the same way, even within the boundaries of a single national park. A new dataset gives park managers a valuable tool for understanding why vegetation has changed and how it might change in the future under different climate-change scenarios.

Cinder cones are typically simple volcanoes that consist of accumulations of ash and cinders around a vent. Sunset Crater Volcano and Capulin Volcano are cinder cones.

The combination of high. elevation and a semi-arid climate makes the Colorado Plateau particularly vulnerable to climate change. Climate models predict that over the next 100 years, the Southwest will become warmer and even more arid, with more extreme droughts than the region has experienced in the recent past.

Ever wondered what those dark lines were on the rock walls of canyon country? These black, brown, and red streaks are called desert varnish.