Input sought on park plans

By Tom Purdom
Staff Writer

EL MORRO NATIONAL MONUMENT — Superintendent Kayci Cook is doing something a bit different with this long-time national monument.

She is hosting an open house to get public comment on a first-ever El Morro National Monument Fire Plan and an updated version of the Fire Management Plan for El Malpais National Monument. Cook said the plans and fire management staff from the National Park Service will be at the Tinaja Family Restaurant on New Mexico 53, about three miles from the national monument on Thursday from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. to discuss the plans. "We would like to invite the area neighbors and interested parties to attend the informal open house," Cook said.

Herschel Schulz, El Morro and El Malpais national monuments chief ranger said the plan's goals are restoration and maintenance of the natural ecosystems, protection of natural and cultural resources, protection of human developments from unwanted wildland fire and providing for firefighter and public safety. The plan takes advantage of several treatment plans including mechanical thinning and use of prescribed burning to full fire suppression.

Schulz said the monument is not holding the open house for the heck of it. "We want public input," he said. "We've never had a fire management plan for El Morro and this draft plan is the very first one written for it."

The reason El Morro has not had a fire management plan, until this year, is two-fold. "First, El Morro was not required to have one until now, and second, El Morro didn't have the staff to implement a fire management plan," Schulz said. "We have a draft put together now, but if a member of the public has a legitimate concern, we'll evaluate it and then adjust the plan accordingly." In other words, what people say in public forums do have an impact.

El Morro was brought into the national park system on Dec. 8, 1908. The park is 1,279 acres. The main feature is a huge sandstone bluff rising some 200 feet above the surrounding landscape. Beginning in the late 1500s, weary Spanish travelers used it as a campsite, primarily because of a reliable water hole hidden at the base of the mountain. While at the campsite, many of the travelers carved their names into the sandstone, along with the dates of the visit and some carved messages. There are more than 2,000 inscriptions on the rock, also named Inscription Rock, including that of Spanish settler Juan de Oate. More than 700 years ago, Ancestral Puebloans living on top of the bluff also inscribed petroglyphs into the rock.

On the other hand, El Malpais National Monument has been operating under a fire management plan, which is updated yearly. Schulz said the plan provides a solid framework for joint management of wildland fire and prescribed fires as tools to safely accomplish protection and resource management objectives. The area is known as the El Malpais National Monument, but within that framework is the El Malpais National Conservation Area. The conservation area is managed by the Bureau of Land Management and the monument is managed by the national park service.

El Malpais National Monument and Conservation Area was established in 1987 by an act of Congress and is considered a newcomer to the National Park system in the United States. The monument has 114,277 acres and is made up of a series of volcanic features such as lava flows, cinder cones, pressure ridges and complex lava tubes. People have been interacting with El Malpais for more than 10,000 years.

Schulz said the fire management plans are available on-line at www.nps.gov/elma and www.nps.gov/elmo. Written comments can be sent to the National Park Service, attention Schulz, at 123 E. Roosevelt Ave., Grants, New Mexico, 87020. Written comments can also be sent by e-mail to ELMA Superintendent@nps.gov.