• overview of Long House

    Bandelier

    National Monument New Mexico

  • Access to Frijoles Canyon Will Be Limited

    Starting June 1, 2012 all access to the most visited part of the park, Frijoles Canyon, will be via a shuttle bus from the nearby community of White Rock. This is to alleviate a parking shortage created by the Las Conchas Fire. More details to follow.

Tsankawi Trail Stop 2

Tsankawi Stop 2

NPS Photo by Stella Carroll

Plants adapted to dry conditions

The types of plants found along the trail are typical of pinon-juniper woodlands. Plants adapted to dry conditions grow slow and are not very tall. Ponderosa pines, more common at higher, wetter locations are usually found here only near arroyos (drainages) where more moisture is available. 
 Juniper, pinon, rabbitbrush, yucca, four-winged saltbush, and mountain mahogany are common along this trail. Ancestral Pueblo people depended on many of these plants for food, medicine, dyes, spices, and tools. Some of these plants are still used for the same purposes in contemporary pueblos.

 

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Did You Know?

Black-chinned Hummingbird chicks in nest

Hummingbirds use a combination of plant material, lichens, and moss held together by spider webs to make a flexible nest.  This nest can expand to meet the needs of the growing chicks.