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| El Malpais National Conservation Area | |
|---|---|
IUCN category V (protected landscape/seascape) | |
 El Malpais National Conservation Area | |
  Map of the United States | |
| Location | Cibola County,New Mexico, United States |
| Nearest city | Grants, New Mexico |
| Coordinates | 34°51′32″N108°01′16″W / 34.859°N 108.021°W /34.859; -108.021 |
| Area | 263,000 acres (1,060 km2) |
| Established | 1987 |
| Governing body | Bureau of Land Management |
| Website | El Malpais National Conservation Area |
TheEl Malpais National Conservation Area is a federally protected conservation area in theU.S. state ofNew Mexico. The El Malpais National Conservation area was established in 1987 and is managed by theBureau of Land Management as part of theNational Landscape Conservation System. The adjoiningEl Malpais National Monument was established at the same time and is managed by theNational Park Service.
The 263,000-acre (1,060 km2) El Malpais NCA includes two wilderness areas — theWest Malpais Wilderness[1] andCebolla Wilderness Area[2] — covering almost 100,000 acres (400 km2).
For more than 10,000 years people have interacted with the El Malpais landscape. Historic and prehistoricCultural landscape sites provide connections to past times. More than mere artifacts, these cultural resources are kept alive by the spiritual and physical presence of contemporary Indian groups, including the Puebloan peoples ofAcoma,Laguna andZuni, and the RamahNavajo.
ElMalpais ('thebadlands') is Spanish, pronounced Mal-(rhymes with wall)-pie-ees(rhymes with rice). The El Malpais National Conservation Area was established to protect nationally significant geological, archaeological, ecological, cultural, scenic, scientific, and wilderness resources surrounding theGrants Lava Flows.
In addition to the twowilderness areas, the NCA includessandstone cliffs, canyons,La Ventana Natural Arch, the Chain of Craters Back Country Byway and the Narrows Picnic Area.
There are two visitor centers that serve the NCA, both off of I-40. El Malpais Visitor Center, operated jointly with the National Park Service, is on the south side of exit 85. The Bureau of Land Management Ranger Station is about eight miles south of exit 89 on State Highway 117.
This article incorporatespublic domain material from websites or documents of theBureau of Land Management.
Media related toEl Malpais National Conservation Area at Wikimedia Commons