Plants and Animals

This upland zone between the mountains and the plains contains the best of both worlds. Pinon, juniper and scrub oak dot the hills, while the arroyos and springs support clusters of cottonwood and desert willow. Exotic Russian olive and salt cedar (tamarisk) trees were planted in the 1920s-1930s, and have overtaken the riparian areas they were meant to preserve.

Much of the Galisteo Basin is shortgrass prairie, and opens to the Llano Estacado to the east, where nomadic tribes hunted vast herds of bison and pronghorn antelope. Common wild plants here include wild buckwheat, ricegrass, amaranth, dropseed, and goosefoot, important sources of wild food; yerba manso, osha, cocklebur, gumweed, and buffalo gourds, which were used medicinally; and dock, which was used as a tannin, for food, and medicinally.

Animals common to the Galisteo Basin include coyotes, gray foxes, striped skunks, bobcats, and Rocky Mountain mule deer. Several bat species nest in abandoned caves. Birds include raptors such as the American kestrel, bald eagles, golden eagles, sharp-shinned, red-tailed, and Cooper's hawks, great-horned owls, and long-eared owls. Other resident birds include doves, hummingbirds, sapsuckers and woodpeckers, nighthawks, and numerous songbirds. Prairie and western rattlesnakes enjoy the abundant rodent and rabbit populations here, along with several harmless species of snakes.

Earth & Water

The Galisteo Basin was formed between 40-65 million years ago, as part of the newly-formed Rocky Mountains depressed and began filling with gravel sediment. From 20-30 million years ago, volcanic activity shook the region, resulting in the prominent Ortiz Mountains.

The geologic activity formed veins of minerals throughout the Cerrillos Hills and the Ortiz Mountains. Dating back to prehistoric times, people have come from all over the region to mine coal, turquoise, silver, and galena, a lead sulfite often associated with silver and used as a pottery glaze.

A few streams cross the Galisteo Basin. Since prehistoric times, people have created dams for irrigating crops. Logging and other activity in the upper watershed -- the forested slopes of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains -- caused the streams to cut deeply into the soil and run faster, eventually lowering the water table. The Santa Fe railroad cut the flood plain in half, which also accelerated erosion. An attempt to stabilize stream banks by planting Russian olive and tamarisk trees backfired as the exotic trees invaded the area, salinized the soil, and sucked up water. Most surface water dried up in the 1970s, and the groundwater, which is part of the extensive Santa Fe aquifer, is threatened by population growth to the north and south.

The centuries of mining activity have also taken their toll. Recent cleanup efforts seek to remedy the effects of using cyanide and sulfates in gold mining.