Capulin Volcano National Monument is a

U.S. National Monument In the United States, a national monument is a protected area that can be created from any land owned or controlled by the federal government by proclamation of the President of the United States or an act of Congress. National monuments pr ...

located in northeastern

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...

that protects and interprets an extinct

cinder cone A cinder cone (or scoria cone) is a steep conical hill of loose pyroclastic fragments, such as volcanic clinkers, volcanic ash, or scoria that has been built around a volcanic vent. The pyroclastic fragments are formed by explosive eruptions o ...

volcano A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates are ...

and is part of the Raton-Clayton volcanic field. A paved road spirals gradually around the volcano and visitors can drive up to a parking lot at the rim of the extinct volcano. Hiking trails circle the rim as well as lead down into the mouth of the volcano. The monument was designated on August 9, 1916, and is administered by the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...

. The volcano is located north of the village of

Capulin ''Prunus serotina'', commonly called black cherry,World Economic Plants: A Standard Reference, Second Edition'. CRC Press; 19 April 2016. . p. 833–. wild black cherry, rum cherry, or mountain black cherry, is a deciduous tree or shrub of the g ...

. The visitor center features exhibits about the volcano and the area's geology, natural and cultural history, and offers educational programs about volcanoes. There is also a video presentation about the volcano. The name ''capulin'' comes from a type of choke cherry, ''

Prunus virginiana ''Prunus virginiana'', commonly called bitter-berry, chokecherry, Virginia bird cherry, and western chokecherry (also black chokecherry for ''P. virginiana'' var. ''demissa''), is a species of bird cherry (''Prunus'' subgenus ''Padus'') nat ...

'', that is native to southern North America.

Apollo 16 Apollo 16 (April 1627, 1972) was the tenth crewed mission in the United States Apollo space program, administered by NASA, and the fifth and penultimate to land on the Moon. It was the second of Apollo's " J missions", with an extended sta ...

John Young John Young may refer to: Academics * John Young (professor of Greek) (died 1820), Scottish professor of Greek at the University of Glasgow * John C. Young (college president) (1803–1857), American educator, pastor, and president of Centre Coll ...

and

Charlie Duke Charles Moss Duke Jr. (born October 3, 1935) is an American former astronaut, United States Air Force (USAF) officer and test pilot. As Lunar Module pilot of Apollo 16 in 1972, he became the tenth and youngest person to walk on the Moon, at ag ...

did some of their geologic training here in May 1971.

William R. Muehlberger William Rudolf "Bill" Muehlberger (September 26, 1923 – September 14, 2011), Professor of Geology at University of Texas at Austin, was the geology principal investigator of both the Apollo 16 and 17 missions to the Moon, for National Aeronautic ...

was one of the geology instructors.

Description

From the

: File:Capulin Volcano 2002.jpg, The grass-covered outer slope of the cinder cone. File:2004-08 Capulin Volcano path to crater floor.jpg, A trail leads from the parking lot to the crater floor. File:Capulin Volcano View from top 2002.jpg, View from the summit. File:Capulin oli 2016095 lrg.jpg, A satellite image of the volcano (center) and the surrounding area File:Looking south southeast from the walking path encircling Capulin Volcano National Monument on 29 August 2022.jpg, Looking south southeast from the walking path encircling the volcano.

Capulin Volcano National Monument Panorama

Visitor activities

The two mile road that winds from the bottom of the volcano all the way to the top is popular with visitors. Once the top is reached, views of the surrounding volcano field,

Sangre De Cristo mountains ) , country= United States , subdivision1_type= States , subdivision1= , parent= Rocky Mountains , geology= , orogeny= , area_mi2= 17193 , range_coordinates= , length_mi= 242 , length_orientation= north-south , width_mi= 120 , w ...

, the flora and fauna are visible. From late June to early August a phenomenon called hilltopping can be seen on the Crater Rim trail, thousands upon thousands of

ladybugs Coccinellidae () is a widespread family of small beetles ranging in size from . They are commonly known as ladybugs in North America and ladybirds in Great Britain. Some entomologists prefer the names ladybird beetles or lady beetles as they ...

cover trees and bushes at the top of the volcano. Capulin is also

International Dark-Sky Association The International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) is a United States-based non-profit organization incorporated in 1988 by founders David Crawford, a professional astronomer, and Tim Hunter, a physician/amateur astronomer. The mission of the IDA is " ...

Gold Tier Certified, which means it has one of the darkest night skies in the entire country. Due to low levels of light pollution incredible views of the

Milky Way The Milky Way is the galaxy that includes our Solar System, with the name describing the galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked eye ...

and constellations are evident. Visitors can hike a variety of different trails located throughout the park. The Lava Flow trail is a mile long loop that runs along the southern portion of the park. The Boca Trail is a 1.7 mile long loop that runs along the western base of the volcano, hikers can view the collapsed lava tubes that were created thousands of years ago at the foundation of the volcano. There are two different trails accessible from the top of the volcano: the Crater Rim trail which is a one-mile loop that goes around the entirety of the rim of the volcano and the Crater Vent trail which goes 200 yards into the crater itself.

History

According to the National Park Service, on January 16, 1891, Capulin Mountain was

...withdrawn from settlement, entry or other disposition under any of the public land laws, until such time as Congress may see fit to take action touching the same or until otherwise ordered by competent authority...

On August 9, 1916, President

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...

set Capulin aside as a

by Presidential Proclamation No. 1340, to preserve "...a striking example of recent extinct volcanoes ... which ...is of great scientific and especially geologic interest..." Jessie Foote Jack and other local ranchers highly valued Capulin Volcano during this time period as it was considered prime grazing land. In order to ensure sole rights to graze cattle on the volcano, Jessie used her husband's political connections to secure the position of custodian for the monument. Serving from 1916 to 1921, Jessie Foote Jack was the first custodian for Capulin Volcano, as well as the first female custodian in the National Park Service. In 1921, Homer Farr would unofficially become the custodian of the monument at the request of Mrs. Jack. Later, in 1923, Farr would officially take over the position serving the National Park Service until 1955. His enthusiasm for the volcano brought numerous changes to the monument. During his tenure, Farr was credited with building the monument's infrastructure which includes the road to the rim, procuring funding in economically difficult times, and garnering a Civil Works Project during the Great Depression to stabilize the road and build retaining walls. Public Law 87-635, 87th Congress, S.2973, September 5, 1962, amended the proclamation to "...preserve the scenic and scientific integrity of Capulin Mountain National Monument..." because of the significance of Capulin Volcano. On December 31, 1987, Congress changed the Monument's name from Capulin Mountain National Monument to Capulin Volcano National Monument by Public Law 100-225 (101 Stat. 1547). File:Capulin 1909 lwt01406.jpg, Congealed lava flows, viewed from the top of Capulin Volcano (1909) File:Capulin 1916 lwt01401.jpg, Capulin Volcano, viewed from the west (1916) File:Homer farr after the building of the road.jpg, Homer Farr after the completion of the road (1925)

Ecology

Although Capulin is primarily known for its volcanic geology, the park boasts a rich diversity of plant and animal life. The grasslands of the Great Plains and the forests of the Rocky Mountains combine at Capulin to form a unique ecotone which provides habitat for 73 species of birds in addition to numerous other animals. Songbirds such as the

spotted towhee The spotted towhee (''Pipilo maculatus'') is a large New World sparrow. The taxonomy of the towhees has been debated in recent decades, and until 1995 this bird and the eastern towhee were considered a single species, the rufous-sided towhee. A ...

Bullock's oriole Bullock's oriole (''Icterus bullockii'') is a small New World blackbird. At one time, this species and the Baltimore oriole were considered to be a single species, the northern oriole. This bird is named after William Bullock, an English amateur ...

mountain bluebird The mountain bluebird (''Sialia currucoides'') is a small migratory thrush that is found in mountainous districts of western North America. It has a light underbelly and black eyes. Adult males have thin bills and are bright turquoise-blue and s ...

, and

Steller's jay Steller's jay (''Cyanocitta stelleri'') is a bird native to western North America and the mountains of Central America, closely related to the blue jay found in eastern North America. It is also known as the long-crested jay, mountain jay, and pin ...

all call Capulin Volcano home. Larger birds such as the

wild turkey The wild turkey (''Meleagris gallopavo'') is an Upland game bird, upland ground bird native to North America, one of two extant species of Turkey (bird), turkey and the heaviest member of the order Galliformes. It is the ancestor to the domestic ...

osprey The osprey (''Pandion haliaetus''), , also called sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor reaching more than in length and across the wings. It is brown o ...

red-tailed hawk The red-tailed hawk (''Buteo jamaicensis'') is a bird of prey that breeds throughout most of North America, from the interior of Alaska and northern Canada to as far south as Panama and the West Indies. It is one of the most common members with ...

, as well as New Mexico's state bird, the

roadrunner The roadrunners (genus ''Geococcyx''), also known as chaparral birds or chaparral cocks, are two species of fast-running ground cuckoos with long tails and crests. They are found in the southwestern and south-central United States and Mexico, us ...

, also live within the park. There are five different species of

hummingbird Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the biological family Trochilidae. With about 361 species and 113 genera, they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but the vast majority of the species are found in the tropics aro ...

that migrate through Capulin during the summer months. Some of the larger mammals that frequent the park include the

American black bear The American black bear (''Ursus americanus''), also called simply a black bear or sometimes a baribal, is a medium-sized bear endemic to North America. It is the continent's smallest and most widely distributed bear species. American black bear ...

cougar The cougar (''Puma concolor'') is a large Felidae, cat native to the Americas. Its Species distribution, range spans from the Canadian Yukon to the southern Andes in South America and is the most widespread of any large wild terrestrial mamm ...

pronghorn The pronghorn (, ) (''Antilocapra americana'') is a species of artiodactyl (even-toed, hoofed) mammal indigenous to interior western and central North America. Though not an antelope, it is known colloquially in North America as the American a ...

elk The elk (''Cervus canadensis''), also known as the wapiti, is one of the largest species within the deer family, Cervidae, and one of the largest terrestrial mammals in its native range of North America and Central and East Asia. The common ...

, and the most numerous of larger mammals, the

mule deer The mule deer (''Odocoileus hemionus'') is a deer indigenous to western North America; it is named for its ears, which are large like those of the mule. Two subspecies of mule deer are grouped into the black-tailed deer. Unlike the related whit ...

. Smaller mammals such as the

American badger The American badger (''Taxidea taxus'') is a North American badger similar in appearance to the European badger, although not closely related. It is found in the western, central, and northeastern United States, northern Mexico, and south-centr ...

Mexican free-tailed bat The Mexican free-tailed bat or Brazilian free-tailed bat (''Tadarida brasiliensis'') is a medium-sized bat native to the Americas, so named because its tail can be almost half its total length and is not attached to its uropatagium. It has been ...

ring-tailed cat The ringtail (''Bassariscus astutus'') is a mammal of the Procyonidae, raccoon family native to arid regions of North America. It is widely distributed and well adapted to disturbed areas. It has been legally trapped for its fur. It is listed a ...

desert cottontail The desert cottontail (''Sylvilagus audubonii''), also known as Audubon's cottontail, is a New World cottontail rabbit, and a member of the family Leporidae. Unlike the European rabbit (''Oryctolagus cuniculus''), they do not form social burrow s ...

, and

North American porcupine The North American porcupine (''Erethizon dorsatum''), also known as the Canadian porcupine, is a large quill-covered rodent in the New World porcupine family. It is the second largest rodent in North America, after the North American beaver (''C ...

also inhabit Capulin Volcano National Monument. The unique landscape and flora create a habitat that allows a large and diverse group of animals to co-exist in a relatively small area. The abundance of diversity is not contained to just warm blooded animals however, Capulin also has a large group of cold blooded reptiles as well. The

prairie rattlesnake Prairie rattlesnake may refer to: * ''Crotalus viridis'', a.k.a. the plains rattlesnake, a venomous pitviper species native to the western United States, southwestern Canada, and northern Mexico. * ''Sistrurus catenatus The massasauga (''Sistru ...

and

bullsnake The bullsnake (''Pituophis catenifer sayi)'' is a large, nonvenomous, colubrid snake. It is a subspecies of the gopher snake (''Pituophis catenifer''). The bullsnake is one of the largest/longest snakes of North America and the United States, re ...

are seen throughout the park.

Western fence lizard The western fence lizard (''Sceloporus occidentalis'') is a common lizard of Arizona, New Mexico, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington (state), Washington, Northern Mexico, and the surrounding area. As the ventral abdomen of an ad ...

s and

horned lizard Horned lizards (''Phrynosoma''), also known as horny toads or horntoads, are a genus of North American lizards and the type genus of the family Phrynosomatidae. The common names refer directly to their horns or to their flattened, rounded bodies, ...

s can be seen on hiking trails. The

tiger salamander The tiger salamander (''Ambystoma tigrinum'') is a species of mole salamander and one of the largest terrestrial salamanders in North America. Description These salamanders usually grow to a length of with a lifespan of around 12–15 years. ...

is found in pools of water that sometimes collect around the park. '' Solidago capulinensis'', known as the Capulin goldenrod, is a rare plant endemic to Capulin Volcano National Monument. It is the only known rare vascular plant species in the monument.

References

External links