Bandelier National Monument, NM

Bandelier National Monument is a 33,677 acres National Monument preserving the homes of the Ancestral Pueblo People. It is named after Swiss anthropologist Adolph Bandelier, who researched the cultures of the area. Bandelier was designated a National Monument on February 11, 1916. The National Park Service co-operates with surrounding pueblos, other federal agencies and state agencies to manage the park, which receives 300,000 visitors annually.

The park's elevations range from about 10,000 feet to 5,000 feet at the Rio Grande. The Valles Caldera National Preserve adjoins the monument on the north and east, extending into the Jemez Mountains.

Much of the area was covered with volcanic ash (the Bandelier tuff) from an eruption of the Valles Caldera volcano 1.14 million years ago. The tuff overlies shales and sandstones deposited during the Permian and Pennsylvanian-era limestone. The volcanic outflow varied in hardness; the firmer materials would be used by the Ancestral Pueblo People as bricks, while the softer material was carved into homes.

Several serious forest fires have plagued the monument in the latter part of the 20th century, culminating in the disastrous Cerro Grande Fire of 2000. This fire originated as a controlled burn for fire control but spread out of control owing to high winds, eventually burning over 40,000 acres (160 km) of forest and destroying 250 homes in Los Alamos. Controlled burns were re-conducted in 2006.

. The Pueblo Jose Montoya brought Adolph Bandelier to visit the area in 1880; Bandelier, looking over the cliff dwellings, announced "It is the grandest thing I ever saw." Woodrow Wilson signed the legislation creating the monument in 1916. The monument was closed to the public for several years during World War II, since the lodge was being used to house personnel working on the Manhattan Project.