Coyote Creek State Park
Encyclopedia
Coyote Creek State Park is a state park
of New Mexico
, USA, preserving a riparian
canyon in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains
. The park is located 17 miles (27.4 km) north of Mora
. Coyote Creek is the most densely stocked
trout
stream in New Mexico.
and Early Permian
between 320 and 250 million years ago. In a geosyncline
at the edge of a great shallow sea, limestone
formed underwater is intermixed with sandstone
and shale
eroded from mountains to the west. The sea retreated and advanced several times and the mountains eventually eroded away. 70 million years ago the Laramide orogeny
uplifted the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, steeply tilting the earlier sediments down to the east. New mountain sediments formed a vast alluvial plain
. 8 million years ago a series of volcanic eruptions took place to the east, forming the Ocate volcanic field
. The top of the basalt
flows was 1000 feet (304.8 m) higher than the bottom of Guadalupita Canyon is today. Canyons gradually carved into the lava flows were inundated with more basalt by later eruptions, creating a reverse stratigraphy
where newer deposits are below older deposits. Guadalupita Canyon was carved during the Pleistocene
epoch when there were small glacier
s in the mountains to the west. The creekbed initially shifted eastward following the eroding edge of the basalt. Upon hitting the softer Pennsylvanian sediments, however, the creek began carving downward, creating a valley with a steep east wall and a more gradual slope to the west.
with some narrowleaf cottonwood
and chokecherry intermixed. East of the creek are wet meadow
s followed by a ponderosa pine forest with an understory
of Gambel oak. On the west side of the park is a conifer forest of Douglas fir
, limber pine
, blue spruce, Engelmann spruce, bristlecone pine, white fir, and quaking aspen
, again with a Gambel oak understory. Species diversity
is lower at the north and south ends of the park. Coyote Creek State Park is known for its wildflower
s, such as geraniums, sunflower
s, irises
, and primroses
.
Mammals known to inhabit the immediate area include black bears
, cougars, elk
, mule deer
, red
and gray fox
es, bobcat
s, coyote
s, skunk
s, and porcupine
s. Beavers have created small pools along the creek with their dams
. These ponds have benefited the game fish, which include rainbow trout
, brown trout
, Rio Grande cutthroat trout
, and white suckers
. Numerous bird species have been identified in the park, and the endangered southwestern subspecies
of the willow flycatcher
nests and breeds along Coyote Creek.
received a community land grant
from the Mexican government. The Coyote Creek valley was farmed and many sections were held as community property. With the annexation of New Mexico by the United States in 1846, the grant only narrowly succeeded in being honored. However Stephen Benton Elkins
and Thomas B. Catron began buying up community lands, so in defense the residents of Guadalupita divided up and privatized the remaining common parcels in 1889.
In the early 1930s many of the parcels were consolidated into a ranch owned by Eusebio Romero. A ranch house and the remains of a moonshine
shack from this era are still visible in the park. In the late 1960s, as a new owner bought up the ranch, 80 acres (32.4 ha) surveyed as prime state park material were set aside. This property was purchased by the state on April 24, 1969 for $16,000. The park maintains an official arrangement with an acequia
of landowners downstream. Coyote Creek State Park was greatly expanded in size in 2004 with the purchase and donation of 382 acres (154.6 ha) by The Trust for Public Land
.
State park
State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the federated state level within those nations which use "state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural beauty, historic interest, or recreational...
of New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
, USA, preserving a riparian
Riparian zone
A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. Riparian is also the proper nomenclature for one of the fifteen terrestrial biomes of the earth. Plant habitats and communities along the river margins and banks are called riparian vegetation, characterized by...
canyon in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains
Sangre de Cristo Mountains
The Sangre de Cristo Mountains are the southernmost subrange of the Rocky Mountains. They are located in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico in the United States...
. The park is located 17 miles (27.4 km) north of Mora
Mora, New Mexico
Mora or Santa Gertrudis de lo de Mora is an unincorporated community in, and the county seat of, Mora County, New Mexico, United States. It is located about half way between Las Vegas, New Mexico and Taos on Highway 518 at an altitude of 7,180 feet...
. Coyote Creek is the most densely stocked
Fish stocking
Fish stocking is the practice of raising fish in a hatchery and releasing them into a river, lake, or the ocean to supplement existing populations, or to create a population where none exists...
trout
Trout
Trout is the name for a number of species of freshwater and saltwater fish belonging to the Salmoninae subfamily of the family Salmonidae. Salmon belong to the same family as trout. Most salmon species spend almost all their lives in salt water...
stream in New Mexico.
Geography
Coyote Creek, a tributary of the Mora River, flows almost due south through Guadalupita Canyon. An ridge called La Mesa rises to 9112 feet (2,777.3 m) in elevation above the park to the east, and to the west is the Rincon subrange of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The park is located in the eastern foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains at an altitude of 7700 feet (2,347 m). There is an average precipitation of 18 inches (45.7 cm) per year and an average annual temperature of 46 °F (7.8 °C). Summer temperatures reaching 90 °F (32.2 °C) are unusual, though winters are severe with subzero temperatures and heavy snow. The average annual flow of Coyote Creek is about 10000 acre.ft.Geology
The oldest rocks visible in Coyote Creek State Park were deposited during the Late PennsylvanianPennsylvanian
The Pennsylvanian is, in the ICS geologic timescale, the younger of two subperiods of the Carboniferous Period. It lasted from roughly . As with most other geochronologic units, the rock beds that define the Pennsylvanian are well identified, but the exact date of the start and end are uncertain...
and Early Permian
Permian
The PermianThe term "Permian" was introduced into geology in 1841 by Sir Sir R. I. Murchison, president of the Geological Society of London, who identified typical strata in extensive Russian explorations undertaken with Edouard de Verneuil; Murchison asserted in 1841 that he named his "Permian...
between 320 and 250 million years ago. In a geosyncline
Geosyncline
In geology, geosyncline is a term still occasionally used for a subsiding linear trough that was caused by the accumulation of sedimentary rock strata deposited in a basin and subsequently compressed, deformed, and uplifted into a mountain range, with attendant volcanism and plutonism...
at the edge of a great shallow sea, limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
formed underwater is intermixed with sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
and shale
Shale
Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock composed of mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals and tiny fragments of other minerals, especially quartz and calcite. The ratio of clay to other minerals is variable. Shale is characterized by breaks along thin laminae or parallel layering...
eroded from mountains to the west. The sea retreated and advanced several times and the mountains eventually eroded away. 70 million years ago the Laramide orogeny
Laramide orogeny
The Laramide orogeny was a period of mountain building in western North America, which started in the Late Cretaceous, 70 to 80 million years ago, and ended 35 to 55 million years ago. The exact duration and ages of beginning and end of the orogeny are in dispute, as is the cause. The Laramide...
uplifted the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, steeply tilting the earlier sediments down to the east. New mountain sediments formed a vast alluvial plain
Alluvial plain
An alluvial plain is a relatively flat landform created by the deposition of sediment over a long period of time by one or more rivers coming from highland regions, from which alluvial soil forms...
. 8 million years ago a series of volcanic eruptions took place to the east, forming the Ocate volcanic field
Ocate volcanic field
The Ocate volcanic field is a monogenetic volcanic field located in the eastern Sangre de Cristo Mountains of northern New Mexico, USA. About 8.12 million years ago, basaltic volcanoes began to erupt in the Ocate area...
. The top of the basalt
Basalt
Basalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey...
flows was 1000 feet (304.8 m) higher than the bottom of Guadalupita Canyon is today. Canyons gradually carved into the lava flows were inundated with more basalt by later eruptions, creating a reverse stratigraphy
Reverse stratigraphy
Reverse stratigraphy is the result of a process whereby one sediment is unearthed by human or natural actions and moved elsewhere, whereby the latest material will be deposited on the bottom of the new sediment, and progressively earlier material will be deposited higher and higher in the...
where newer deposits are below older deposits. Guadalupita Canyon was carved during the Pleistocene
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
epoch when there were small glacier
Glacier
A glacier is a large persistent body of ice that forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. At least 0.1 km² in area and 50 m thick, but often much larger, a glacier slowly deforms and flows due to stresses induced by its weight...
s in the mountains to the west. The creekbed initially shifted eastward following the eroding edge of the basalt. Upon hitting the softer Pennsylvanian sediments, however, the creek began carving downward, creating a valley with a steep east wall and a more gradual slope to the west.
Flora and fauna
The riparian zone along the creek is dominated by coyote willowSalix exigua
Salix exigua Salix exigua Salix exigua (Sandbar Willow, Narrowleaf Willow, or Coyote Willow; syn. S. argophylla, S. hindsiana, S. interior, S. linearifolia, S. luteosericea, S. malacophylla, S. nevadensis, S...
with some narrowleaf cottonwood
Populus angustifolia
Populus angustifolia is a species of poplar tree known by the common names Narrowleaf Cottonwood and Willow-leaved Poplar. This tree is native to the Great Basin in the United States where it is most often found by streams and creeks at some elevation.The tree is slim in profile, with yellow-green...
and chokecherry intermixed. East of the creek are wet meadow
Wet meadow
A wet meadow is a semi-wetland meadow which is saturated with water throughout much of the year. Wet meadows may occur because of poor drainage or the receipt of large amounts of water from rain or melted snow. They may also occur in riparian zones....
s followed by a ponderosa pine forest with an understory
Understory
Understory is the term for the area of a forest which grows at the lowest height level below the forest canopy. Plants in the understory consist of a mixture of seedlings and saplings of canopy trees together with understory shrubs and herbs...
of Gambel oak. On the west side of the park is a conifer forest of Douglas fir
Rocky Mountain Douglas-fir
The Rocky Mountain Douglas-fir, Pseudotsuga menziesii subsp. glauca, is an evergreen conifer native to the interior mountainous regions of western North America, from central British Columbia and southwest Alberta in Canada southward through the United States to the far north of Mexico...
, limber pine
Limber Pine
The Limber Pine, Pinus flexilis, is a species of pine tree-the family Pinaceae that occurs in the mountains of the Western United States, Mexico, and Canada. It is also called Southwestern White Pine and Rocky Mountain White Pine...
, blue spruce, Engelmann spruce, bristlecone pine, white fir, and quaking aspen
Populus tremuloides
Populus tremuloides is a deciduous tree native to cooler areas of North America, commonly called quaking aspen, trembling aspen, American aspen, and Quakies,. The trees have tall trunks, up to 25 metres, with smooth pale bark, scarred with black. The glossy green leaves, dull beneath, become golden...
, again with a Gambel oak understory. Species diversity
Species diversity
Species diversity is an index that incorporates the number of species in an area and also their relative abundance. It is a more comprehensive value than species richness....
is lower at the north and south ends of the park. Coyote Creek State Park is known for its wildflower
Wildflower
A wildflower is a flower that grows wild, meaning it was not intentionally seeded or planted. Yet "wildflower" meadows of a few mixed species are sold in seed packets. The term "wildflower" has been made vague by commercial seedsmen who are interested in selling more flowers or seeds more...
s, such as geraniums, sunflower
Sunflower
Sunflower is an annual plant native to the Americas. It possesses a large inflorescence . The sunflower got its name from its huge, fiery blooms, whose shape and image is often used to depict the sun. The sunflower has a rough, hairy stem, broad, coarsely toothed, rough leaves and circular heads...
s, irises
Iris (plant)
Iris is a genus of 260-300species of flowering plants with showy flowers. It takes its name from the Greek word for a rainbow, referring to the wide variety of flower colors found among the many species...
, and primroses
Primulaceae
Primulaceae is a family of flowering plants with about 24 genera, including some favorite garden plants and wildflowers. It is also known as the primrose family.- Genera :...
.
Mammals known to inhabit the immediate area include black bears
American black bear
The American black bear is a medium-sized bear native to North America. It is the continent's smallest and most common bear species. Black bears are omnivores, with their diets varying greatly depending on season and location. They typically live in largely forested areas, but do leave forests in...
, cougars, elk
Elk
The Elk is the large deer, also called Cervus canadensis or wapiti, of North America and eastern Asia.Elk may also refer to:Other antlered mammals:...
, mule deer
Mule Deer
The mule deer is a deer indigenous to western North America. The Mule Deer gets its name from its large mule-like ears. There are believed to be several subspecies, including the black-tailed deer...
, red
Red Fox
The red fox is the largest of the true foxes, as well as being the most geographically spread member of the Carnivora, being distributed across the entire northern hemisphere from the Arctic Circle to North Africa, Central America, and the steppes of Asia...
and gray fox
Gray Fox
The gray fox is a mammal of the order Carnivora ranging throughout most of the southern half of North America from southern Canada to the northern part of South America...
es, bobcat
Bobcat
The bobcat is a North American mammal of the cat family Felidae, appearing during the Irvingtonian stage of around 1.8 million years ago . With twelve recognized subspecies, it ranges from southern Canada to northern Mexico, including most of the continental United States...
s, coyote
Coyote
The coyote , also known as the American jackal or the prairie wolf, is a species of canine found throughout North and Central America, ranging from Panama in the south, north through Mexico, the United States and Canada...
s, skunk
Skunk
Skunks are mammals best known for their ability to secrete a liquid with a strong, foul odor. General appearance varies from species to species, from black-and-white to brown or cream colored. Skunks belong to the family Mephitidae and to the order Carnivora...
s, and porcupine
Porcupine
Porcupines are rodents with a coat of sharp spines, or quills, that defend or camouflage them from predators. They are indigenous to the Americas, southern Asia, and Africa. Porcupines are the third largest of the rodents, behind the capybara and the beaver. Most porcupines are about long, with...
s. Beavers have created small pools along the creek with their dams
Beaver dam
Beaver dams are dams built by beavers as protection against predators such as coyotes, wolves, and bears, and to provide easy access to food during winter. Beavers work at night and are prolific builders, carrying mud and stones with their fore-paws and timber between their teeth...
. These ponds have benefited the game fish, which include rainbow trout
Rainbow trout
The rainbow trout is a species of salmonid native to tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead is a sea run rainbow trout usually returning to freshwater to spawn after 2 to 3 years at sea. In other words, rainbow trout and steelhead trout are the same species....
, brown trout
Brown trout
The brown trout and the sea trout are fish of the same species....
, Rio Grande cutthroat trout
Rio Grande cutthroat trout
The Rio Grande cutthroat trout , a member of the family Salmonidae is found in New Mexico and southern Colorado in tributaries of the Rio Grande...
, and white suckers
White Sucker
The White Sucker is a bottom-feeding freshwater fish inhabiting North America from Labrador in the north to Georgia and New Mexico in the south. It is a long, round-bodied fish with a dark green, grey, copper, brown, or black back and sides and a light underbelly. When fullgrown, it is between 12...
. Numerous bird species have been identified in the park, and the endangered southwestern subspecies
Subspecies
Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...
of the willow flycatcher
Willow Flycatcher
The Willow Flycatcher is a small insect-eating bird of the tyrant flycatcher family.Adults have brown-olive upperparts, darker on the wings and tail, with whitish underparts; they have an indistinct white eye ring, white wing bars and a small bill. The breast is washed with olive-grey. The upper...
nests and breeds along Coyote Creek.
History
The Coyote Creek area was inhabited by Native Americans for centuries, although no significant archaeological sites have been found within the park. Settlement by Euro-Americans began in 1837 when three residents of TaosTaos, New Mexico
Taos is a town in Taos County in the north-central region of New Mexico, incorporated in 1934. As of the 2000 census, its population was 4,700. Other nearby communities include Ranchos de Taos, Cañon, Taos Canyon, Ranchitos, and El Prado. The town is close to Taos Pueblo, the Native American...
received a community land grant
Land grant
A land grant is a gift of real estate – land or its privileges – made by a government or other authority as a reward for services to an individual, especially in return for military service...
from the Mexican government. The Coyote Creek valley was farmed and many sections were held as community property. With the annexation of New Mexico by the United States in 1846, the grant only narrowly succeeded in being honored. However Stephen Benton Elkins
Stephen Benton Elkins
Stephen Benton Elkins was an American industrialist and political figure. He served as the Secretary of War between 1891 and 1893...
and Thomas B. Catron began buying up community lands, so in defense the residents of Guadalupita divided up and privatized the remaining common parcels in 1889.
In the early 1930s many of the parcels were consolidated into a ranch owned by Eusebio Romero. A ranch house and the remains of a moonshine
Moonshine
Moonshine is an illegally produced distilled beverage...
shack from this era are still visible in the park. In the late 1960s, as a new owner bought up the ranch, 80 acres (32.4 ha) surveyed as prime state park material were set aside. This property was purchased by the state on April 24, 1969 for $16,000. The park maintains an official arrangement with an acequia
Acequia
An acequia or séquia is a community-operated waterway used in Spain and former Spanish colonies in the Americas for irrigation. Particularly in Spain, the Andes, northern Mexico, and the modern-day American Southwest, acequias are usually historically engineered canals that carry snow runoff or...
of landowners downstream. Coyote Creek State Park was greatly expanded in size in 2004 with the purchase and donation of 382 acres (154.6 ha) by The Trust for Public Land
The Trust for Public Land
The Trust for Public Land is a land conservation nonprofit founded in 1972 by Huey Johnson and based in San Francisco, California in the United States. TPL works throughout the United States to conserve land for people as parks, gardens, and other natural places.- TPL Conservation Initiatives :TPL...
.