Sacred ground
National monument now limits bicycle use, plans designated trail expansion
Superintendent of Petroglyph National Monument honors its importance to pueblo communities
Nancy Hendricks has been superintendent at the Petroglyph National Monument only since Oct. 4, but she has been getting the lay of the land by walking as much of it as she can.
“I visited here last year, about this time of year,” Hendricks said during a phone interview earlier this week. “I took a hike up Piedras Marcadas and Boca Negra canyons. In the fall and winter, this is a beautiful place to visit. I like the way the light comes up in the canyons and on the escarpment. And seeing petroglyphs in the snow is just really special.”
Designated a national monument on June 27, 1990, the petroglyph property stretches 17 miles along the West Mesa and encompasses 7,236 acres. Jointly managed by the National Park Service and the city of Albuquerque, the monument includes five volcanic cones, hundreds of archaeological sites and 24,000 petroglyphs, or images carved into rock, mostly by ancestral Pueblo peoples. Hendricks was chief of environmental planning and compliance at Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks in California before taking over as superintendent at Petroglyph National Monument. In her new role, she is acutely aware that the monument’s most prominent goal is to protect the cultural and natural resources of the site.
“I am really still learning about the importance of the monument to our tribal and pueblo partners,” she said. “The monument’s cultural resources and landscape hold profound meaning and significance for traditional communities.”
On March 12, the monument completed its Visitor Use Management Plan. One result is a ban on bikes on administrative roads or trails within most of the monument.
“Our trails are not designed to adequately address multipleuser groups — hikers and bikes,” Hendricks said. She said, too, that the tribes felt that biking was not appropriate in areas sacred to them, places they felt should be reserved for quiet and contemplation.
Now, bikes are allowed only on the paved, multiuse path at Boca Negra Canyon and on the gravel trail that winds in and out of the monument around the mesa top above Boca Negra Canyon.
“There are lots of opportunities outside the monument for people to take bicycle rides,” Hendricks said. “We want to emphasize foot traffic, hiking.”
Another goal of the monument’s visitor-use plan, which is expected to take 10 to 15 years to implement, is to increase the number of miles of designated trails from eight to 39.
“Unfortunately, there are between 100 and 150 miles of unauthorized trails,” Hendricks said. “People see something that interests them and get off trail to get a closer look. Soil is disturbed, plants are trampled and erosion from runoff increases. Rocks can be loosened, including rocks containing petroglyphs.”
Youth conservation groups hired by the monument are restoring damaged trails and marking authorized trails to help visitors know where they are supposed to be and what is off-limits.
“There are a lot of trails I have yet to walk,” Hendricks said. “But I really like Rincoñada Canyon. At the rear of the canyon, you can’t hear traffic. And I have hiked the volcanoes and been up on the mesa. The views of the city from the volcanoes are really amazing.”