The Prehistoric Trackways National Monument was established in 2009 to conserve, protect, and enhance the unique and nationally important paleontological, scientific, educational, scenic, and recreational resources and values of the Robledo Mountains in southern New Mexico. The Monument includes a major deposit of Paleozoic Era fossilized footprint megatrackways within approximately 5,280 acres.

The trackways contain footprints of numerous amphibians, reptiles, and insects (including previously unknown species), plants, and petrified wood dating back 280 million years, which collectively provide new opportunities to understand animal behaviors and environments from a time predating dinosaurs. The site contains the most scientifically significant Early Permian track sites in the world.

There are opportunities for hiking, horseback riding, and off highway vehicle driving in portions of the monument. However, viewing trackways is limited; as they are discovered, and to preserve them for ongoing and future scientific study, the trackways are removed and transported to the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science.

Learn more about the national monument www.blm.gov/nm/st/en/prog/recreation/las_cruces/trackways...