Caja del Rio

Permanent Protection of the Caja del Rio is Needed Now

Located on 106,883-acres of Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service land in north-central New Mexico, the proposed Caja del Rio Cultural Heritage and Wildlife Area (Caja) would permanently protect one of America’s most iconic landscapes and an area of profound cultural, historical, archaeological, and environmental significance. Recognized by the New Mexico Heritage Preservation Alliance as one of the State’s “most endangered places,” the Caja contains thousands of ancient petroglyphs and significant archaeological sites as well as various Native American sacred sites. With scenic mesas, valleys, and other unique geologic features characterizing the area, the Caja del Rio Cultural Heritage and Wildlife Area also represents the key landscape demarcation between what the Spanish colonial world termed the Rio Abajo and Rio Arriba regions of New Mexico—the lower and upper lands with their distinct ecologies and climates. The Caja also contains a major and historically significant travel corridor along the National Historic Trail of El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, an important trade route that ran from Mexico City to San Juan Pueblo (Ohkay Owingeh), New Mexico used by native tribes and Spanish colonialists from 1598 to 1881.

Bordering Bandelier National Monument and connecting various western mountain ranges, the Caja has also been critical to wildlife for thousands of years, which have used La Bajada Mesa and the adjacent Caja del Rio plateau as habitat, a migratory corridor, breeding grounds and an area of relocation during changing climates. The Caja also serves as a critical piece in creating a historical, cultural and eco-tourism corridor connecting to Bandelier National Monument and the adjacent sites of Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument, El Rancho de los Golondrinas and the Leonora Curtin Wetland Preserve. Permanent protection of the Caja will not only preserve its important public lands for their cultural, historical, archaeological and spiritual integrity, but also for their biological diversity, outstanding geology, and the various outdoor recreational, educational and eco-tourism opportunities they present.

Cultural, Historical and Archaeological Legacy of the Caja del Rio

With a period of inhabitance from 6,000 BCE to the present, the Caja del Rio Cultural Heritage and Wildlife Area contains important cultural sites that represent the rich history of New Mexico: from pre-contact Native American cultural and archaeological sites to Spanish, Mexican, and American settlement. Thousands of petroglyphs, dating from pre-contact time and the Spanish colonial era, can be found along La Bajada mesa above the Santa Fe River. Most of the petroglyphs were placed there by Puebloan people living in the area between the 13th and 17th centuries. The BLM’s La Cieneguilla Petroglyph contains over 4,400 well-defined petroglyphs in less than a mile and is known for a great number of hump-backed flute players and a wide variety of bird and wildlife figures.The region also contains a significant number of irreplaceable cultural, religious and sacred sites of Native American tribes and Pueblos, including the Pueblo de Cochiti, Kewa Pueblo, Jemez, San Felipe, Tesuque, and Santa Clara Pueblos as well as Navajo, Hopi and Apache tribes.

Phoebe_Suina_008

El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro: The Royal Road to the Interior Lands & Route 66

The spectacular views, landscapes, and trade and travel corridors of the proposed Caja del Rio Cultural Heritage Area have been known to thousands of national and international travelers for centuries. According to the National Register of Historic Places, the area served as: “A prominent landmark since pre-historic times, the volcanic-capped escarpment known as La Bajada presented a formidable barrier to north-south movement that the Spanish colonists first encountered as they sought to establish the El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro (the Royal Road to the Interior Land) in the late 16thcentury. During the colonial period as caravans and settlers traveled the Rio Grande corridor, many attempted to scale the 600 ft. high barrier by following a trail up the rocky, flood-prone gorge of the Rio Santa Fe, the only canyon bisecting the escarpment…So significant was La Bajada that the escarpment served to divide New Mexico into two distinct regions: the Rio Arriba or upper river, and Rio Abajo or lower river. Even today, this geographic feature functions as a significant cultural, environmental, and historical line of demarcation within New Mexico’s historic Rio Grande corridor.”

The vast ruggedness of La Bajada Mesa has defined New Mexico for hundreds of years and today remains among the most significant geographic landmarks on the Caja and in our nation. The area forever remains the southern gateway to the city of Santa Fe, the oldest capitol in the United States. Because of its steep and remote locale, La Bajada Mesa on the Caja del Rio is among the most historically significant sections of El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro today–with well-worn tracks, swales and other reminders of travelers past etched permanently into the landscape. Three centuries after El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro was established, the iconic and challenging passage through the Caja became part of Route 66, the historic national scenic byway running from Chicago to Los Angeles. With its vertical overhanging walls of basalt and treacherous terrain, the Route 66 passage through the Caja was heralded “as an engineering wonder” and acted as the nation’s gateway to Native and western cultures. Permanent preservation of the Caja del Rio offers remarkable opportunities to study, observe, research, and experience the geological and anthropological processes that have shaped not only the natural landscape, but also the history and culture of our nation.

The Caja’s Ecological Connectivity, Critical Species, and Watersheds

The proposed Caja del Rio Cultural Heritage and Wildlife Area is one of the most ecologically rich and significant wildlife corridors and habitats in North America. As part of the Upper Rio Grande, the Caja helps connect a vital wildlife corridor from the state of Colorado to Mexico. This “corridor of connectivity” is recognized by the Western Governors Association as fundamental to the strategic planning of “continental conservation.” The area is a “missing link” and the sole location in the state of New Mexico that provides a wildlife corridor connecting the Bandelier National Monument, Jemez, Sangre De Christo, Sandia and Manzano mountain ranges. The corridor is vital to the movement of native species and provides extensive, long-term genetic viability of migrating populations as well as refuge from increasing development and urbanization. Species of concern that would benefit from permanent protection include the golden and bald eagle, burrowing owl, elk, mule deer, mountain lion, black bear, rattlesnake, collared lizard, mountain plover, long billed curlew, scaled quail, juniper titmouse, loggerhead shrike, ferruginous hawks, Baird’s sparrow, spotted bat and Townsend bat.

As a BLM area of Area of Critical Concern (ACEC), the La Cienega ACEC, 13,390 acres within the Caja, contains “important and relevant cultural, riparian, scenic and vegetation values, as well as wildlife habitat, including habitat for special status species like the Gray Vireo,” a small southwestern desert songbird listed as threatened by the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish. The Caja del Rio plateau has been documented as an important population site for the Gray Vireo, which is threatened by habitat loss (clearing of pinion-juniper woodlands), disturbance from construction and development, habitat alteration from livestock grazing, and Brown-headed Cowbird brood-parasitism.

Watersheds associated with the Caja del Rio include the Rio Grande River and the Santa Fe and Galisteo Basins. These watersheds are critical to the long-term future production of high quality water, necessary for overall ecosystem health and serve as potential sites for species reintroduction. Along these lines, the BLM has considered restoring native fish and plant species in the Santa Fe River area and the proposed area also offers the possibility reintroduction of other native species including bighorn sheep and pronghorn antelope.

Get Involved:

EarthKeepers 360 is helping to spearhead the Caja del Rio coalition. We regularly lead educational guided hikes on the Caja that focus on highlighting the area’s cultural, historical, ecological and wildlife important. Additionally, twice a year we host volunteer trash clean-ups on the Caja. We also host a wide array of community events from film screenings of the short film Saving Caja and a community panel discussions to conducting interviews with the media. Additionally, EarthKeepers played a critical role in drafting comments for the BLM’s proposed shooting range on the Caja as well as highlighting the ongoing threats and challenges to the area  and pass support resolutions. We also helped the Caja del Rio coalition develop the widely acclaimed Caja del Rio Storybook. Finally, EarthKeepers has played a pivotal role in working with the Biden Administration, Congressional Delegation, Santa Fe County, the City of Santa Fe and the Native American Fish and Wildlife Society in calling for permanent protection, responsible stewardship and Tribal co-governance of the Caja del Rio.

en_US
Scroll to Top