NATIONAL PARK SERVICE • U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR. Foundation Document Overview. Bandelier National Monument. New Mexico.

Contact Information. For more information about the Bandelier National Monument Foundation Document, contact: [email protected] or (505) 672-3861, extension 517 or write to: Superintendent, Bandelier National Monument Park, 15 Entrance Road Los Alamos, NM 87544 Purpose. Significance.

Significance statements express why Bandelier National Monument resources and values are important enough to merit national park unit designation. Statements of significance describe why an area is important within a global, national, regional, and systemwide context. These statements are linked to the purpose of the park unit, and are supported by data, research, and consensus. Significance statements describe the distinctive nature of the park and inform management decisions, focusing efforts on preserving and protecting the most important resources and values of the park unit.

• Archeological Resources. Bandelier National Monument preserves a high density and variety of archeological resources from the Ancestral Pueblo period, including cavates carved into cliffs of volcanic tuff. Bandelier is one of the few places in the world where these types of resources are found.

• Cultural Connections. Archeological sites and natural features of Bandelier National Monument remain an integral component of pueblo culture and provide a context for continuing traditional practices. The monument plays an important role for the traditionally associated pueblos, providing a direct cultural connection to resources, stories, and oral histories.

• Study and Preservation of Culture. Early scientific research of Ancestral Pueblo sites at Bandelier National Monument was fundamental to the development of American archeology, anthropology, and ethnography, and contributed to cultural resource preservation in the American Southwest. Ongoing research continues to expand our knowledge in these fields.

The purpose of Bandelier National • Diverse Natural Systems. The dynamic natural systems associated with 5,000 feet of elevation change and dissected Monument is to protect, preserve, and volcanic landforms, including mesas and canyons, support interpret an outstanding portion of diverse vegetation, wildlife, and biotic communities. This area, the Pajarito Plateau, including one of stretching from the Valles Caldera rim to the Rio Grande, is relatively intact compared to the surrounding landscape. the largest concentrations of Ancestral Pueblo archeological sites in the • Wilderness. The Bandelier Wilderness and backcountry provide exceptional opportunities for visitors to access, American Southwest. The monument recreate in, and experience expansive views, clean air, dark provides opportunities for people to night skies, quiet, and solitude, all within an environment connect with and enjoy a diversity rich in archeological sites, which is unique among NPS cultural parks. of cultural and natural resources, • Civilian Conservation Corps Historic District. The striking scenery, wildlife habitats, Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) National Historic remnants of a volcanic landscape, Landmark District at Bandelier is the largest collection and wilderness. of CCC structures and furnishings in the national park system. The district is an outstanding example of design and workmanship from the New Deal era, the greatest campaign of public works in our nation’s history. Fundamental Resources and Values. Interpretive Themes.

Fundamental resources and values are those features, systems, Interpretive themes are often described as the key stories processes, experiences, stories, scenes, sounds, smells, or or concepts that visitors should understand after visiting other attributes determined to merit primary consideration a park—they define the most important ideas or concepts during planning and management processes because they are communicated to visitors about a park unit. Themes essential to achieving the purpose of the park and maintaining are derived from—and should reflect—park purpose, its significance. significance, resources, and values. The set of interpretive themes is complete when it provides the structure necessary • Archeological Resources. for park staff to develop opportunities for visitors to explore • Continuing Cultural Connections. and relate to all of the park significances and fundamental resources and values. • Science and Research. • Pueblo Timeline. The long, rich, and continuing human • Natural Landscape. history of the pueblo people in the Bandelier area provides opportunities to explore how cultures and individuals shape • Wilderness. and are shaped by the land.

• Museum Collection and Archives. • Ecosystems. The unusually intact and diverse ecosystem of the Bandelier area offers outstanding opportunities to Bandelier National Monument contains other resources explore natural processes and the value of restoring and and values that may not be fundamental to the purpose and maintaining healthy, functioning systems. significance of the park, but are important to consider in management and planning decisions. These are referred to as • Civilian Conservation Corps. The high concentration other important resources and values. and integrity of CCC structures and furnishings at Bandelier National Monument foster appreciation for both the hard • Recreational Values / Visitor Experiences. work and talent of those involved and the importance of the 1930s American public works programs as a response to • New Deal Era Legacy / Civilian Conservation Corps national environmental and economic crisis. National Historic Landmark District. • Recreational Opportunities. The Bandelier landscape • Other Cultural Resources. provides unique opportunities to enjoy its cultural, natural, aesthetic , and wilderness values in its wilderness, backcountry, and frontcounty with a range of recreational opportunities such as solitude, animal and plant viewing, photography, hiking, camping, backpacking, horseback riding, snow-shoeing, cross-country skiing, biking, climbing, trail running, exploration, and bird-watching. Description.

Located in Los Alamos County, New Mexico, Bandelier SANA FE o aola Paarito Ski Area NANAL

FRES own of 30 National Monument contains one of the largest LS ALAMS ALLES ALERA NANAL PRESERE concentrations of pre-Hispanic archeological sites in the I CI Eas t LO em S ALA 502 I e MO truc Road S C 502 ro ANY I ute ON erro rande o anta Fe 101ft American Southwest. Within the monument are more than 310m

anai 3,000 sites, most dating from AD 1100 to 1550 and associated 501

d 4 e t Pa c i ar SAN LEFNS r c it o eme t lo o e R rin e d o ate r EPARMEN F t a o d NAN RESERAN e with the Ancestral Pueblo period. These sites consist of u r l ic e ENER t a 4 n i m

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e S LABRAR lo large villages containing up to 400 rooms, hundreds of small c Cro contr i trai N PAJARITO onroa I ro Camron reeration reuired MESA 28 ace rin ate 7580ft it oc farming hamlets, cliff houses, and scatters of artifacts. Major 2310m A roo 142 r 4 Croin c T 7020ft lo e 2140m d

in N own of sites include Frijolito, Yapashi, Tyuonyi, Long House, San in I t e C r A Ñ U ON E R DE BU LO RN l S F T O i R to IJO M de l L E o Friole ES S Miguel, Painted Cave, and Tsankawi. The monument and F A r iole (FR r IJO nir M ate ee LE S C Camron AN YO ar ntranc tation N ) co the surrounding area also contain a high concentration of a Z I o E ALAM O CA N M Y O L unique architectural form called cavates (cliff houses that have N U iitor Cntr E M tai ma at rit CAJA DEL RIO M J I S PLATEAU Pet St. ers D clo om N ed e R in oad been carved out of the soft volcanic tuff bedrock). in 142 Boundar ea C ter ome 8182ft A railhead P 244m U BANELER LERNESS S A L er Friole N I C Fall MIG N UE INS A L MOUNTA aai oer Friole N Fall N t eter Dome Y O O Y SANA FE 8463ft H N 2580m O N A NANAL FRES c N C l Adolph F. Bandelier, a pioneer in the study of Southwest o C D ME e d A O K i SANA FE n LERNESS N

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Y R history and ethnology, visited Frijoles Canyon in October ate ure rin O N E North

T I 1880 and was the first person to record the existence of many H W om 0 1 2 3 4 ilometers e C Ro a M aint Ca O d E 0 1 2 3 4 Miles C D of the major archeological sites in the area. He was guided by H IO Warning: o not t ma for accontr tra. I T S A I C tain an a crrnt tooraic ma for irn NC 268 HE A i. C Z N Y B A C la N Paved road Bandelier National n A O d Y N Monument boundar Y N inhabitants of Cochiti Pueblo, who have direct ancestral ties to O O an N N o n 28 R Bandelier ilderness and o Four-wheel a d drive road ome ilderness areas D N the sites in Frijoles Canyon. Bandelier’s scientific and popular rail ampground

PRAE LANS writings brought the area to public attention. In the late 1890s ociti ae the archeological remains in the region were first proposed for NAN RESERAN protected status under the names of “Pajarito National Park or Cliff Cities National Park.” This park proposal, spearheaded canyons that reach from the edge of the Valles Caldera to the by Edgar L. Hewett, included a much larger tract than the Rio Grande. Of these, the Capulin, Alamo, Frijoles, and other current monument boundaries. To further his proposal, smaller canyons are within the monument boundaries. The Rio Hewett assisted in the development of the Antiquities Act, Grande, a major southwestern river, marks the monument’s which became law in 1906, permitting the president to create southeastern boundary. The monument extends from the Rio national monuments “to preserve historic and prehistoric Grande at 5,300 feet to the summit of Cerro Grande at 10,200 structures and objects of historic or scientific interest” feet on the caldera rim. Major vegetation types vary with (Antiquities Act, section 2). Bandelier National Monument increasing elevation, including juniper savannas, piñon-juniper was established by presidential proclamation on February 11, woodlands, canyon-wall shrublands, ponderosa pine forests, 1916, named after Adolph Bandelier, who died in 1914. riparian forests, mixed conifer forests, and montane grasslands. Bandelier’s original 22,352 acres were administered by the US The 799-acre Tsankawi unit of Bandelier National Monument Forest Service from 1916 until the National Park Service assumed is 12 miles from the main park. It includes more than 150 responsibility in 1932. Over time, lands have been added to archeological sites, including cavates, petroglyphs, and the and removed from the monument. The monument’s current Ancestral Pueblo village of Tsankawi on Pajarito Mesa. The boundaries include approximately 32,831 acres. In 1976, Congress Tsankawi unit is of critical importance to the cultural heritage, designated 23,267 acres of the monument as wilderness. beliefs, customs, practices, and history of nearby San Ildefonso In May 1987, the Bandelier Civilian Conservation Corps Historic Pueblo—the direct descendants of the people who inhabited District of 32 stone buildings was designated as a national the Tsankawi unit. historic landmark. This historic district harmonizes with its In 2010, prior to the Las Conchas Fire, more than 230,000 people natural and cultural setting and helps define the mood of the visited Bandelier National Monument, primarily from March headquarters and main visitor center area in Frijoles Canyon. through September. Popular activities include hiking, picnicking, Bandelier National Monument is within the Pajarito Plateau. photography, bird-watching, backpacking, and camping. Most This large geographic feature is composed of volcanic ash visitors are day users and spend their time visiting archeological ejected from the Valles Caldera in a series of eruptions, the sites in Frijoles Canyon. Popular trails and destinations include last occurring approximately one million years ago. After the the Main Loop Trail to Tyuonyi and the cliff dwellings, Alcove ash and flows of the last eruption had cooled and coalesced, House, and the Falls Trail. Fewer people venture into Bandelier’s the forces of erosion carved the plateau into a series of deep rugged wilderness to hike and backpack.