The protection of the Río Grande del Norte will preserve its cultural, prehistoric, and historic legacy and maintain its diverse array of natural and scientific resources, ensuring that the historic and scientific values of this area remain for the benefit of all Americans.
Under the authority of the Antiquities Act of 1906, 44th President of the United States Barack Obama created the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument on March 25, 2013, with the stroke of his Presidential pen at a ceremony in Washington D.C. The signing designated roughly 240,000 acres of land from Pilar. NM, to the Colorado border as a national monument.
The effort to protect the land and water began in earnest in 2007. In February 2013, New Mexico Senators Tom Udall, Martin Heinrich and 3rd District Representative Ben Luján reintroduced a bill to establish the Río Grande del Norte National Conservation Area to protect BLM-managed lands in Taos and Rio Arriba Counties. The March 25 signing was the culmination of hard work and dedication to preserving an area teeming with wildlife, natural wonders and native petroglyphic evidence of human habitation dating back thousands of years.
The Rio Grande del Norte encompasses some of the most spectacular lands in all of the Land of Enchantment. The monument includes two BLM recreation areas, a portion of the Rio Grande Wild and Scenic River, and the Red River Wild and Scenic River.
The area also contains on the east side of the river the Guadalupe Mountain and Ute Mountain, a 10,093 foot high volcanic cone rising roughly 3,000 feet above the surrounding landscape, the 800-foot deep Rio Grande Gorge and the famous Taos Box near the John Dunn bridge, known worldwide to whitewater rafting fans.
This is also the Rio Grande Migratory Flyway, one of the oldest and greatest north-south migratory routes in the world. The walls of the Gorge are the nesting grounds of eagles, falcons and hawks, and the great raptors are frequently seen soaring on the currents. It is also a route for tiny hummingbirds in spring and fall. The noisy language of sandhill cranes during their autumn migration from the San Luis Valley in Southern Colorado to the Bosque del Apache near Socorro, NM, is music to the ears of hikers and birdwatchers alike.
(A special treat this year will be Red River’s Geoff Goins of Night Ski Adventures, who will be presenting his Interpretive Astronomy Tours, Astronomy Education and Portable Observatory on several occasions at the Wild Rivers Visitors Center north of Questa, which is now a part of the Rio Grande del Norte. (Check Geoff’s website at www.nightskyadventures.com.)