Natural Resources at Petroglyph National Monument

Petroglyphs of a coyote and a rattlesnake on a large basalt boulder in Rinconada Canyon.
Coyote and rattlesnake petroglyphs.

NPS

Petroglyph National Monument is comprised of three units and encompasses 7200 acres (2915 ha) within the city of Albuquerque in central New Mexico. The monument is jointly owned and managed by the National Park Service, the State of New Mexico, and the City of Albuquerque. It was established in 1990 to protect cultural and natural resources, including a large concentration of petroglyphs and five volcanic cones.

Petroglyph NM is located in the transition zone between Great Plains, Great Basin, and Chihuahuan Desert grasslands. Nine vegetation communities have been identified in the monument, with grasslands and shrublands dominant. Six species of amphibians, 55 species of birds, 26 species of mammals, 24 species of reptiles, and over 350 species of invertebrates have been documented in the monument. Surface water resources in the monument include several ephemeral streams and arroyos, including one intermittent stream that passes through two of Petroglyph's units.

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Life Zones

Petroglyph NM ranges in elevation from 4,982 to 6,029 feet (1,519–1,838 m) and spans the Semi-Desert Grassland/Shrub Steppe and Pinyon-Juniper Woodland life zones. The monument experiences an average annual precipitation of 8.6 inches (219 mm).

Graphic of a mountain divided into illustrated vegetation zones by elevation and exposure, with the elevations that correspond to Petroglyph National Monument 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 Albuquerque, NM, near Petroglyph National Monument, from 1914 to 2012 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