The Trust transferred the last remaining private land within the El Malpais National Wilderness Study Area to federal ownership in 2009. Underlain with lava fields, this rugged land is home to unique plants and wildlife. It could have been developed as a cabin site. Instead the land will remain forever wild.
New Mexico hosts 25 federal wilderness areas totaling 1.6 million acres. Many private inholdings are relics of the 19th century mining law.
Catron County (USDA Forest Service)
The Gila Wilderness was the first designated wilderness anywhere in the world. It is New Mexico’s largest wilderness area—more than half a million acres, stretching for 27 miles near the southwest corner of the state. The Mogollon Mountains traverse in an arc across the wilderness. High mesas, rolling hills and deep canyons distinguish the eastern portion. Ponderosa pines blanket the central portion where sheer cliffs outline the Gila River. The west and southwest portions boast highest mountains with elevations up to 10,895 feet. Backpackers consider the Gila one of America’s best wilderness destinations in the country.
Cibola County (National Park Service)
A million years ago, lava flowed across this jagged high desert creating an eerie world of lava tube caves, cinder cones, pressure ridges and bridges. El Malpais means “the badlands” in Spanish, a fitting name for the lava fields, inactive and potentially active volcanoes here. In the 1940s El Malpais was considered for the first nuclear test, which ultimately occurred at White Sands. Today, El Malpais is protected by the National Park Service. Prehistoric ruins, ancient cairns and abandoned homesteads reveal the human relationships to this primeval place.
El Malpias National Monument Wilderness Study Area
On June 3, 1924, at Aldo Leopold's insistence, the Gila became the world's first designated wilderness area. With 558,014 acres, the Gila is New Mexico’s largest wilderness area.
The Wilderness Land Trust
PO Box 1420, Carbondale, CO 81623, phone: 970.963.1725 fax: 970.963.6067