First the wide, wild picture. State Route (Highway) North 14 (The Turquoise Trail = TT) extending from Sandia Park to I25 just south of Santa Fe, some 40 miles, passes through some of the best wildlife habitat remaining in the Albuquerque metro area (here Bernalillo and Santa Fe Counties). In fact the stretch from San Pedro northward to Madrid, if envisioned as an eastward extension of the Sandia Mountains prominent to the west, could be categorized as a semi-wilderness area of over 200,000 acres. Most of this moderately wooded landscape which adjoins the remote eastern slopes of the Sandias is part of the so-called “East Mountains” the popular, unofficial designation for the extended area.

Thus, an almost, could-be wilderness. The best overview of this large tract of undeveloped, mostly private rangeland is seen on the ~ 10 mile stretch between Golden and so-called “Stagecoach Pass” just north of Santa Fe County Road 60 junction (heading west). This scenic stretch passes over the Ortiz Mountain pediment slope, a broad apron of earth that runs from the west slope Ortiz westward and gradually downward into the Hagan Basin and Diamond Tail Ranch with its dwindling cattle numbers. All of this is good Pinyon-Juniper-cactus rangeland at the dry end of its natural distribution.

We should not neglect the Ortiz Mountains proper or the San Pedro Mountains especially when we speak of the TT semi-wilderness corridor. These small but rugged clusters with summits up to 8,700 feet form a natural eastern boundary of the greater East Mountains. They are sliced from a contiguous connection to the Sandias ~ 10 miles away by only N 14 itself, plus a couple dusty roads which link the hamlet of La Madera and the ghost towns of Hagan and Puertecito somewhere “down thar” in the Basin. 

The paved highway northward from (say) Sandia Park, through Golden, Madrid, Cerrillos and on to San Marcos begins in the cooler Ponderosa Pine-Gambel Oak Zone at Sandia Park at 7000 feet. The route quickly changes into Pinyon-Juniper woodlands around San Pedro Creek, the only perennial stream in the area. From the stream-crossing bridge onward Pinyon-Juniper is the dominant habitat type until we rise gently out of the Galisteo Basin north of Cerrillos onto the flat open plains surrounding the penitentiary. Given a bit of elasticity in the U.S.A. map of natural geography we can refer to these open plains (a very small tract really) as the western-most extension of the Great Plains. Look for a small remnant heard of Pronghorn Antelope here. They are often seen but are an endangered little group in their isolated island of short grass.

Finally, back at Cerrillos and the N14 bridge over Galisteo Creek: if this thin, placid, interrupted trickle (not in stormy flood) is judged as perennial, then it can be said that the TT crosses over two seasonally-continuous streams in which the hardy Fathead Minnow and Woodhouses Toad are (were) indigenous breeding species. All natural aquatic life in the region is endangered by drought(s), land use and their watery isolation. Richly spring-fed San Pedro Creek in its middle reaches is a relatively secure stream in that it is protected under private riparian (wetland) management. You can see its thick-willow course from the N 14 bridge a couple hundred yards north of the San Pedro Creek Estates entrance. There is enough water, food and cover here for the minnows, the toads, breeding Mallards (fairly common) and migrating Great Blue Herons (rare). And Great Horned Owls (resident) like the several big cottonwoods along the Creek.

Jeffrey Davis ~ 2010, all rights reserved.

See the other sections of the "Wildlife along the Turquoise Trail" for more information.
  Overview
  Mammals
  Birds
  Reptiles & Great Spiders
  Wildlife Survey Tips



Photo Copyright: Ken Lundy ~ 2010, all rights reserved.