Nature
Carson National Forest spans 1.5 million acres across northern New Mexico in separate units in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, San Juan Mountains, and San Juan Basin. Managed for recreation, grazing, and resource extraction, it includes some of the state’s highest terrain, including Wheeler Peak, and protected wilderness areas such as Wheeler Peak, Latir Peak, Columbine-Hondo, and Cruces Basin. Parts of the Rio Grande and Red River were included in the original Wild and Scenic Rivers Act in 1968. Established in 1908, the forest also reflects a deeper human history of Ancestral Pueblo settlement, Spanish and Mexican land grants, Taos Pueblo’s successful struggle to regain Blue Lake in 1970, and later land-grant activism and expansion.
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New Mexico · United States
