Natural Resources at Chaco Culture National Historical Park

A stream flows near the base of a mesa, surrounded by corridors of dense vegetation
Riparian corridor in Chaco Culture National Historical Park.

NPS / SCPN

Chaco Culture National Historical Park, encompasses about 34,000 acres in the San Juan Basin region of northwestern New Mexico. Originally designated as a national monument in 1907 to preserve the remains of the prehistoric Chacoan culture, the park was expanded in 1980 and its status changed to a national historical park.

Chaco Culture NHP is of national and international significance because it contains approximately 4000 prehistoric and historic archeological sites representative of Paleo-Indian, Archaic, Pueblo, and Navajo occupations. The park is also listed in the National Register of Historic Places and was designated a World Heritage Site in 1987.

Chaco Culture NHP contains three prominent land forms:

  1. the alluvium-filled valley floor of Chaco Canyon, with its prominent drainage features;
  2. expansive sandstone mesas, topped by slickrock outcrops and gently rolling hills; and
  3. a number of smaller side canyons (including box-canyons locally known as "rincons") eroded into the sandstone faces adjacent to the main canyon floor.

Nine vegetation types have been documented in Chaco, including pinyon-juniper woodland, grassland, and riparian vegetation. The park supports 4 species of amphibians, 127 species of birds, 41 species of mammals, 14 species of reptiles, and 27 species of invertebrates. Water resources in the park include a high water table, an intermittently flowing stream, several seeps and pools.

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Life Zones

Chaco Culture NHP ranges in elevation from 6,009-6,875 feet (1,832-2,096 m) and spans the the Semi-Desert Grassland/Shrub Steppe and the Pinyon-Juniper Woodland life zones. It experiences an average annual precipitation of 8.9 inches (225 mm).

Graphic of a mountain divided into illustrated vegetation zones by elevation and exposure, with the elevations that correspond to Chaco Culture National Historical Park highlighted

Climate Summary Chart

Charts are an effective way to summarize and graphically represent climate variables. The following chart is based on the diagrams developed for vegetation studies by Walter and Lieth in 1967. Visit our climate page for more information.

Graph with lines charting average temperature and precipitation at Chaco Culture National Historical Park from 1909 to 2011 by the time of year.


Reports & Publications

Inventories are point-in-time surveys that help us learn about the resources in our parks. Information obtained through the Southern Colorado Plateau Network’s inventories of park resources helped to establish a base level of data, which has served as a starting point for our natural resource monitoring.

Source: Data Store Saved Search 3515 (results presented are a subset). To search for additional information, visit the Data Store.

Our monitoring reports provide the most recent published findings from our field work.

Source: Data Store Saved Search 3471 (results presented are a subset). To search for additional information, visit the Data Store.

Protocols describe how we monitor. They include a descriptive narrative of what we monitor and why, our field methods, how we analyze and manage our data, and more. All of our protocols are peer reviewed.

Source: Data Store Saved Search 3280 (results presented are a subset). To search for additional information, visit the Data Store.

Find additional documents on our Reports & Publications pages.

Links

Park Flora (SEINet)

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    Last updated: October 21, 2022