Natural Resources at Bandelier National Monument

Rio Grande in winter at Bandelier National Monument.

NPS / Sally King

Bandelier National Monument encompasses 33,675 acres along the eastern side of the Jemez Mountains in north-central New Mexico. It was designated as a national monument in 1916 to protect its Ancestral Puebloan resources. In 1976, 70% of the monument was designated as wilderness.

Much of the area was covered with volcanic ash, or Bandelier tuff, when an ancient volcano erupted about a million years ago. Most of the park overlaps the southern portion of the Parajito Plateau, a geologic formation of narrow mesas and deep canyons.

These dramatic features create different microclimates that support a diversity of life forms. Fifteen vegetation community types are found in the monument and include juniper grassland, pinyon-juniper woodland, ponderosa pine forest, mixed conifer forest, high-elevation meadows, and riparian communities. Bandelier NM supports 10 amphibian, 216 bird, 34 fish, 80 mammal, 36 reptile, 382 insects (of which more than 81 are butterflies), and 124 arachnid species.

The water resources of Bandelier include a number of perennial springs and streams. Bandelier NM possesses Class I, the highest level, air quality, which has legal protection under the Clean Air Act. All of these natural resources have been seriously affected by the frequency and extent of large-scale crown fires that have burned across the park since 2000.

Monitored Here

---

• Aquatic macroinvertebrates
• Bird communities
• Climate
• Riparian ecosystems
• Upland ecosystems
• Water quality

---

Species Lists

×

Species Attribute Definitions

Definitions

Occurrence

Occurrence values are defined below. One or more Occurrence Tags may be associated with each Occurrence value.

Present: Species occurs in park; current, reliable evidence available.

Probably Present: High confidence species occurs in park but current, verified evidence needed.

Unconfirmed: Species is attributed to park but evidence is weak or absent.

Not In Park: Species is not known to occur in park.

---

Occurrence Tags

Adjacent: Species is known to occur in areas near to or contiguous with park boundaries.

False Report: Species was reported to occur within the park, but current evidence indicates the report was based on misidentification, a taxonomic concept no longer accepted, or other similar problem of error or interpretation.

Historical: Species' historical occurrence in park is documented. Assigned based on judgment as opposed to determination based on age of the most recent evidence.

---

Abundance

Abundant:

• Animals: May be seen daily, in suitable habitat and season, and counted in relatively large numbers.
• Plants: Large number of individuals; wide ecological amplitude or occurring in habitats covering a large portion of the park.

Common:

• Animals: May be seen daily, in suitable habitat and season, but not in large numbers.
• Plants: Large numbers of individuals predictably occurring in commonly encountered habitats but not those covering a large portion of the park.

Uncommon:

• Animals: Likely to be seen monthly in appropriate habitat and season. May be locally common.
• Plants: Few to moderate numbers of individuals; occurring either sporadically in commonly encountered habitats or in uncommon habitats.

Rare:

• Animals: Present, but usually seen only a few times each year.
• Plants: Few individuals, usually restricted to small areas of rare habitat.

Occasional:

• Animals: Occurs in the park at least once every few years, varying in numbers, but not necessarily every year.
• Plants: Abundance variable from year to year (e.g., desert plants).

Unknown: Abundance unknown

---

Nativeness

Native: Species naturally occurs in park or region.

Non-native: Species occurs on park lands as a result of deliberate or accidental human activities.

Unknown: Nativeness status is unknown or ambiguous.

×

List Differences

The Checklist contains only those species that are designated as "present" or "probably present" in the park.

The Full List includes all the checklist species in addition to species that are unconfirmed, historically detected, or incorrectly reported as being found in the park. The full list also contains species that are "in review" because their status in the park hasn't been fully determined. Additional details about the status of each species is included in the full list.

The checklist will almost always contain fewer species than the full list.

Select a Park:

Bandelier National Monument

Select a Species Category (optional):

All Amphibians Birds Fish Mammals Reptiles Vascular Plants

Get Checklist Get Full List List Differences

Species attribute definitions

Search results will be displayed here.

Visit NPSpecies for more comprehensive information and advanced search capability. Have a suggestion or comment on this list? Let us know.

Life Zones

Bandelier NM ranges in elevation from 5,217 feet at the Rio Grande to more than 10,000 feet at the peak of Cerro Grande (1,590–3,050 m) and spans five life zones - from Semi-Desert Grassland/Shrub Steppe through Spruce-Fir Forest. The park experiences an average annual precipitation of 15 inches (382 mm).

Climate Summary Chart

Charts are an effective way to summarize and graphically represent climate variables. The following chart is based on the diagrams developed for vegetation studies by Walter and Lieth in 1967. Visit our climate page for more information.

Reports & Publications

Inventory Reports

Inventories are point-in-time surveys that help us learn about the resources in our parks. Information obtained through the Southern Colorado Plateau Network’s inventories of park resources helped to establish a base level of data, which has served as a starting point for our natural resource monitoring.

Source: Data Store Saved Search 3515 (results presented are a subset). To search for additional information, visit the Data Store.

Monitoring Reports

Our monitoring reports provide the most recent published findings from our field work.

Source: Data Store Saved Search 3471 (results presented are a subset). To search for additional information, visit the Data Store.

Protocols

Protocols describe how we monitor. They include a descriptive narrative of what we monitor and why, our field methods, how we analyze and manage our data, and more. All of our protocols are peer reviewed.

Source: Data Store Saved Search 3280 (results presented are a subset). To search for additional information, visit the Data Store.

Find additional documents on our Reports & Publications pages.

Links

Park Flora (SEINet)

University of Wyoming -
Rocky Mountain Region Digital Herbarium