El Malpais National Conservation Area in western New Mexico was created in 1987 as a federally protected landscape managed by the Bureau of Land Management alongside the neighboring national monument. Centered on the Grants Lava Flows, it preserves about 263,000 acres of volcanic and high-desert country, including large wilderness areas as well as sandstone cliffs, canyons, La Ventana Natural Arch, and other notable features. Human ties to this landscape extend back more than 10,000 years, and it remains culturally important to Indigenous communities including Acoma, Laguna, Zuni, and the Ramah Navajo. The area is protected for its geological, ecological, scientific, archaeological, scenic, and cultural value.