used continually until trailing gave way to trucking and the trail officially closed in 1971. Ecology The Magdalena Mountains contain a wide variety of vegetation types, including scrubland, pinyon-juniper woodland, ponderosa pine forest, spruce-fir forest, grassland, and riparian areas. At lower elevations, grasses include black and sideoats grama, poverty threeawn, fluffgrass, burrograss, and galleta grass. Higher up, grass species include blue and hairy grama, little blue stem, and Arizona fescue. Shrubs that are mixed in the grasslands include sotol, cholla, yucca, Apache plume, mountain mahogany, shrub live-oak, gambel oak, and alligator juniper. The range of habitat areas available is reflected by the variety of wildlife in the area. The mountains are home to mountain lions, black bears, pronghorns, mule deer, coyotes, red and grey foxes, bald and golden eagles, prairie falcons, kestrel, and Mearn's quail. Additionally, several thousand acres of Mexican spotted owl critical habitat lie within the range. The Magdalenas provide important habitat and an east-west movement corridor for mountain lions, and the area is considered important for species movement across the landscape. The Nature Conservancy identified the Magdalena Mountains as part of a key conservation area due to their ecosystem diversity and species richness. Gallery References External links Magdalena Ridge Observatory Langmuir Laboratory for Atmospheric Research Cibola National Forest, Magdalena Ranger District Devil's Reach WSA Devil's Backbone WSA Mountain ranges of New Mexico Cibola National Forest Magdalena Ranger District Mountain ranges of Socorro County, New Mexico Bureau of Land Management areas in New Mexico