In addition to park fire regulations:
. Smoking limited to inside a vehicle.
· No open fires (this includes wood, charcoal and/or gas fire pits) are permitted anywhere in the park.
· Use of gas canister stoves for cooking are still allowed at this time
A sea of annual wildflowers blankets the slopes along the Smith Spring Trail.
NPS/Cookie Ballou
The biological diversity within Guadalupe Mountains National Park is outstanding and includes more than 1000 species of plants. While many of these are common desert species such as ocotillo and prickly pear cactus, others are found only in the park and nowhere else in the world.
In part, the amazing diversity can be attributed to significant geographical variations in an extremely rugged landscape. Steep-walled canyons, highcountry ridge tops, wide-open expanses of desert lowland, and lush riparian oases provide opportunity for unique and contrasting life zones that span across thousands of acres with over 5000’ of elevation difference.
Plants that grow here are tough. They survive not only the components that make up the landscape, but also the extremes of temperature, aridity, and relentlessly powerful winds, all common factors of the park’s desert climate. Plants have evolved elegant methods of tolerating or avoiding desert conditions. Some such as cactus have thick fleshy stems that store water, and spines that not only serve as fierce armor against predators, but also help reflect the sun’s radiant heat. Many species avoid desert extremes by clinging tightly to limited but dependable seeps and shaded springs. Annual wildflowers that grow here avoid the drought altogether with a compressed, complete life cycle – from sprout to seed – that occurs only in conjunction with summer’s monsoon rains.
For thirty-six years John Thomas Smith raised ten children and carved out a life on the foothills of the Guadalupe Mountains. The historic ranch that visitors see today changed over time, but still bears the indelible mark of the Smith family's time here.
The Frijole Ranch area has been a focal point of human use in the Guadalupe Mountains for many centuries. This is not surprising when one considers that Pine, Juniper, Smith, Manzanita, and Frijole springs are all within a two-mile radius of the Frijole Ranch site. The ranch is a legacy of westward settlement.
The orchard at Frijole Ranch was part of the self-sustaining farmstead developed in the early 1900s. Irrigated by area springs, the fruit trees provided a source of food and shade in the West Texas desert. In 2006, a century after the Smith family settled here, the orchard was partially replanted. It continues to represent a vital aspect of ranching and homestead history and shows how the landscape functioned for the family and the community.
The Guadalupe Mountains violet, a perennial, yellow-flowered violet, is an extremely rare endemic plant of the Guadalupe Mountains. The violet is known only from Guadalupe Mountains National Park, where it grows at high elevations on vertical limestone faces.
Locations:Big Bend National Park, Carlsbad Caverns National Park, Casa Grande Ruins National Monument, Chiricahua National Monument, Coronado National Memorial, Fort Bowie National Historic Site, Fort Davis National Historic Site, Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument, Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Montezuma Castle National Monument, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Saguaro National Park, Tonto National Monument, White Sands National Parkmore »
Vegetation and soils are two of many natural resources monitored by the National Park Service (NPS) Division of Inventory & Monitoring (I&M). Learning about vegetation dynamics helps us to better understand the integrity of ecological processes, productivity trends, and ecosystem interactions that can otherwise be difficult to monitor. In NPS units of the American Southwest, three I&M networks monitor vegetation and soils using the scientific protocol described here.
Locations:Big Bend National Park, Carlsbad Caverns National Park, Casa Grande Ruins National Monument, Chiricahua National Monument, Coronado National Memorial, Fort Bowie National Historic Site, Fort Davis National Historic Site, Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument, Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Montezuma Castle National Monument, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Saguaro National Park, Tonto National Monument, White Sands National Parkmore »
It might come as a surprise to learn that in the sublime expanses of the Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts, some of the most interesting life around can be found in the dirt right in front of your feet! Biological soil crusts form a living groundcover that is the foundation of desert plant life.
Locations:Amistad National Recreation Area, Big Bend National Park, Carlsbad Caverns National Park, Fort Davis National Historic Site, Guadalupe Mountains National Park, White Sands National Park
In 2003 and 2004, the University of Arizona conducted an inventory of reptiles and amphibians (herpetofauna) in six National Park Service Chihuahuan Desert Network parks. Primary objectives of this inventory were to document reptile and amphibian species, map the distribution of all species found, and determine a rough relative abundance for each species.
Locations:Amistad National Recreation Area, Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site, Big Bend National Park, Capulin Volcano National Monument, Carlsbad Caverns National Park, Chickasaw National Recreation Area, Fort Davis National Historic Site, Fort Larned National Historic Site, Fort Union National Monument, Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Lake Meredith National Recreation Area, Lyndon B Johnson National Historical Park, Pecos National Historical Park, Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Sitemore »
National parks, like other publicly managed lands, are deluged by new exotic species arriving through predictable (e.g., road, trail, and riparian corridors), sudden (e.g., long distance dispersal through cargo containers and air freight), and unexpected anthropogenic pathways (e.g., weed seeds mixed in with restoration planting mixes).
Locations:Amistad National Recreation Area, Big Bend National Park, Carlsbad Caverns National Park, Casa Grande Ruins National Monument, Chiricahua National Monument, Coronado National Memorial, Fort Bowie National Historic Site, Fort Davis National Historic Site, Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Saguaro National Park, Tumacácori National Historical Park, White Sands National Parkmore »
The Southern Basin and Range is an extension of the Basin and Range Province centered on Nevada and the Great Basin and extending from southern Oregon to western Texas, and into northwest Mexico.
