El Malpais National Monument [SEP] inception
, the Trinity nuclear test, which did occur to the south at White Sands Proving Ground. The Department of Defense did use the site as a bombing range to train pilots during World War II.
After the war, the Bureau of Land Management became the administrator of the area. In 1987, President Reagan created El Malpais National Monument and designated it a unit of the National Park Service. It is jointly managed with the nearby El Morro National Monument.
Features.
El Malpais has many lava tubes open to
El Malpais National Monument
El Malpais National Monument is a National Monument located in western New Mexico, in the Southwestern United States. The name El Malpais is from the Spanish term "Malpaís", meaning "badlands", due to the extremely barren and dramatic volcanic field that covers much of the park's area.
It is on the Trails of the Ancients Byway, one of the designated New Mexico Scenic Byways.
Geography and geology.
The lava flows, cinder cones, and other volcanic features of El