Tsankawi prehistoic site - bandelier national monument

Discover My Mountain: Bandelier National Monument

Just a 30-minute drive from Los Alamos, Bandelier National Monument offers visitors an excellent opportunity to explore Ancestral Pueblo dwellings, broad mesas, and steep-walled canyons, where ladders provide access to small-carved dwellings built in natural recesses. Bandelier has 33,000 acres of designated wilderness, 70+ miles of hiking trails, and a variety of outdoor activities, including hiking, cross-country skiing, bird-watching and camping.

Bandelier protects Ancestral Pueblo archaeological sites, a beautiful landscape, and the country’s largest Civilian Conservation Corps National Landmark District. From mid-May through mid-October, Los Alamos County provides Atomic City Transit shuttles to the Park from the White Rock Visitor Center. Shuttles run daily beginning at 9am and are handicap accessible. Handicap vehicles are also allowed to drive into the Park.

For more information about Bandelier, visit nps.gov/band. To learn about the many more attractions in and near Los Alamos go to visitlosalamos.org. Los Alamos is Where Discoveries Are Made!

Episode 1121 | Our Land: After the Fires Revisited

Six years ago this summer, the Las Conchas wildfire burned 156,000 acres in the Jemez Mountains. The effects of that fire are still visible on the landscape today. And changes in the forest will continue to be seen for generations.

Las Conchas burned over 60 percent of Bandelier National Monument. The park and nearby pueblos also experienced major flooding in the years afterwards. Thousands of acres of ponderosa and mixed conifer forest in the mountains have since transitioned into shrubs and grasslands. Scientists know that fire was an important part of the landscape for a millennia. Fires would have burned through this area every 5-7 years, according to tree ring chronologies. Due to many factors, including a history of fire suppression and a warming climate, fires like Las Conchas burned with high intensity and high severity in recent decades.

In July we began a new series on New Mexico in Focus. Correspondent Laura Paskus has been examining a different environmental issue each month on “Our Land: New Mexico’s Environmental Past, Present and Future.”

The changes we learn about in this segment aren’t unique to the Jemez Mountains. Scientists and land managers are learning lessons that can be shared across the western United States.

High Altitude Space Balloon by Moon Over Los Alamos, Cosmic Ray Detectors Deployed

UFO By Moon Over Los Alamos, 9 22 18 - Actually a Space Balloon

Thanks to Diamond at Oppenheimer Ranch

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