University of Colorado Law School Colorado Law Scholarly Commons Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Books, Reports, and Studies Resources, Energy, and the Environment 2005 El Malpais Area: National Monument, National Conservation Area and the West Malpais and Cebolla Wilderness Areas Kathryn M. Mutz Doug Cannon University of Colorado Boulder. Natural Resources Law Center Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.law.colorado.edu/books_reports_studies Part of the Natural Resources and Conservation Commons, Natural Resources Law Commons, and the Natural Resources Management and Policy Commons Citation Information Kathryn Mutz & Doug Cannon, El Malpais Area: National Monument, National Conservation Area and the West Malpais and Cebolla Wilderness Areas (Natural Res. Law Ctr., Univ. of Colo. Sch. of Law 2005). Kathryn Mutz & Doug Cannon, EL MALPAIS AREA: NATIONAL MONUMENT, NATIONAL CONSERVATION AREA AND THE WEST MALPAIS AND CEBOLLA WILDERNESS AREAS (Natural Res. Law Ctr., Univ. of Colo. Sch. of Law 2005). Reproduced with permission of the Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy, and the Environment (formerly the Natural Resources Law Center) at the University of Colorado Law School. EL MALPAIS AREA: NATIONAL MONUMENT, NATIONAL CONSERVATION AREA AND THE WEST MALPAIS AND CEBOLLA WILDERNESS AREAS Kathryn Mutz and Doug Cannon Natural Resources Law Center February 2005 Table of Contents I. INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................... 1 II. EARLY HISTORY ....................................................................................................................... 4 III. THE PROCESS OF PROTECTION ............................................................................................... 4 A. The Early Days ..................................................................................................................... 4 B. Legislative History................................................................................................................ 7 1972......................................................................................................................................... 7 1985......................................................................................................................................... 7 1986-1987 ............................................................................................................................. 10 IV. LEGAL FRAMEWORKS........................................................................................................... 13 A. Legislative Provisions......................................................................................................... 13 B. Drawing the Boundaries...................................................................................................... 15 1. National Monument ......................................................................................................... 15 2. National Conservation Area............................................................................................. 18 3. Wilderness Areas ............................................................................................................. 18 a. West Malpais Wilderness Area.................................................................................... 19 b. Cebolla Wilderness Area ............................................................................................. 20 c. Chain of Craters WSA ................................................................................................. 21 d. El Malpais National Monument Roadless Area........................................................... 23 e. Other WSAs Considered for Wilderness Designation................................................. 23 V. MANAGEMENT ........................................................................................................................ 24 A. Management Plans.............................................................................................................. 25 B. Management Issues ............................................................................................................. 27 1. Vehicle Access................................................................................................................. 28 a. Recreation .................................................................................................................... 28 b. Access for Tribes ......................................................................................................... 31 2. Grazing............................................................................................................................. 32 3. Mineral Development ...................................................................................................... 37 4. Water................................................................................................................................ 38 5. Private Lands Acquisition................................................................................................ 40 6. Contrasting Other Management Issues ............................................................................ 43 VI. CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................................... 47 VII. BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................................... 50 Statutes, Cases, Public Laws, and Federal Regulations............................................................ 50 Committee Reports and Hearings............................................................................................. 50 Agency Documents................................................................................................................... 51 Other Documents ...................................................................................................................... 52 Contacts .................................................................................................................................... 52 i I. INTRODUCTION El malpais (“the badlands”), located about twenty miles south of Grants, New Mexico, is an area of extensive volcanic features including lava flows, cinder cones, lava tubes, calderas, and ice caves. 1 The elevation of the el malpais region varies from about 6,500 feet to about 8,000 feet above sea level. The vegetation ranges from pinyon-juniper in the lower elevations to ponderosa forests in the highlands. The area provides habitat for numerous amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and bird species. Because of its unique features and long history, the area is also rich in cultural and historical resources. For all of these reasons, Congress has designated most of el malpais for varying degrees of protection. See Maps 1a and 1b. In 1987 Congress passed Public Law 100-225 (the Act), which created three land designations in order to protect and administer the el malpais region. The first is the 114,277-acre El Malpais National Monument, administered by the National Park Service (NPS). Adjacent to and nearly surrounding the National Monument is the El Malpais National Conservation Area (NCA). The approximately 263,000-acre NCA is administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Included within the NCA are the West Malpais and the Cebolla Wilderness Areas that together comprise about 98,000 acres. The Act also called for a wilderness suitability study for part of the NCA (the Chain of Craters Wilderness Study Area (WSA)), as well as the roadless portions of the National Monument. This report describes the legislative history of the area, discussing each legal framework (national monument, NCA, and wilderness areas), how they were chosen, and the controversies and constituencies that influenced the selection. The report also compares management prescriptions specified in the legislation for each framework and how BLM and NPS have translated these prescriptions into management plans. Finally, the report comments on whether or not different land status designations have made any difference in management, with particular emphasis on motorized access, grazing, mineral development, and water rights and water development. 1 “el malpais” (lower case) is used throughout this report to refer to the general badlands area regardless of land status designation. General descriptions of the area were drawn from the following websites unless otherwise cited. http://www.nm.blm.gov/recreation/albuquerque/el_malpais_nca.htm (February 8, 2005); http://www.nps.gov/elma/pphtml/facts.html (February 8, 2005). 1 Map 1a. New Mexico Location 2 Map 1b. Detail of National Monument, NCA, Wilderness Areas, and multiple-use lands. Note: This map is derived from recent BLM and NPS data, but it incorrectly portrays the yellow hatched area (eastern edge) as part of the NCA. This is Acoma Pueblo land excluded from the NCA boundary. Only the hatched orange and green areas area within the NCA. 3 II. EARLY HISTORY The original inhabitants of el malpais were the Acoma and Zuni, dating back to 10,000 –5,000 B.C.E.. Spanish colonization and conquest in the 16th and 17th centuries resulted in dwindling Native populations as well as changes in the Acoma and Zuni agrarian lifestyle. By 1800 the largest industry for the Indian and Spanish in the area was sheepherding. Between