El Malpais National Monument - Grants NM
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Don.Morfe
N 35° 07.122 W 107° 49.722
13S E 242214 N 3889869
El Malpais National Monument is a National Monument located in western New Mexico. The name El Malpais is from the Spanish term Malpaís, meaning badlands, due to the extremely barren and dramatic volcanic field that covers much of the park's area.
Waymark Code: WM17B57
Location: New Mexico, United States
Date Posted: 01/17/2023
Views: 1
FROM WIKIPEDIA
"El Malpais National Monument is a National Monument located in western New Mexico, in the Southwestern United States. The name El Malpais is from the Spanish term Malpaís, meaning badlands, due to the extremely barren and dramatic volcanic field that covers much of the park's area.
It is on the Trails of the Ancients Byway, one of the designated New Mexico Scenic Byways.
HISTORY
The area around El Malpais was used for resources, settlement, and travel by Oasisamerica cultures, Native Americans, and Spanish colonial and pioneer exploration. Archaeological sites remain in the park.
In the 1940s the Malpais lava field was one of the eight candidate sites considered by the Manhattan Project to test detonate the first atomic bomb, the Trinity nuclear test, which did occur to the south at White Sands Proving Ground. The Department of Defense did use the site as a bombing range to train pilots during World War II.
After the war, the Bureau of Land Management became the administrator of the area. In 1987, President Reagan signed Pub. L. 100–225 that created El Malpais National Monument and designated it a unit of the National Park Service. It is jointly managed with the nearby El Morro National Monument."
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