Alabama, and Tennessee. Genetic analyses and surveys are currently being performed to determine the population's variation and overall health. History The area around El Malpais was used for resources, settlement, and travel by Oasisamerica cultures, Native Americans, and Spanish colonial and pioneer exploration. Archaeological sites remain in the park. In the 1940s the Malpais lava field was one of the eight candidate sites considered by the Manhattan Project to test detonate the first atomic bomb, the Trinity nuclear test, which did occur to the south at White Sands Proving Ground. The Department of Defense did use the site as a bombing range to train pilots during World War II. After the war, the Bureau of Land Management became the administrator of the area. In 1987, President Reagan signed that created El Malpais National Monument and designated it a unit of the National Park Service. It is jointly managed with the nearby El Morro National Monument. Protection and management The U.S. National Park Service protects, manages, and interprets El Malpais National Monument. El Malpais Visitor Center (formerly The Northwest New Mexico Visitor Center) is just south of Exit 85 off I-40 in Grants, New Mexico. The adjacent El Malpais National Conservation Area is protected and managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. They staff the El Malpais National Conservation Area Ranger Station 8 miles down State Highway 117 south of I-40 Exit 89. The Cibola National Forest conserves large natural areas, wildlife, and habitats in the surrounding region as well. In literature The second portion of the 1932 book Brave New World by Aldous Huxley takes place on the "savage reservation", which is located on land encompassing the park's area. The malpais is the setting for a western story, "Flint" (November, 1960) by Louis L'Amour. Flint is a successful business man who thinks he is dying of cancer and returns to a hidden campsite within the malpais he had learned of in his youth. A scene in Cormac McCarthy's 1985 novel Blood Meridian takes place on the malpais. See also List of national monuments of the United States References Further reading External links BLM: El Malpais National Conservation Area website Offbeat New Mexico – El Malpais TopoQuest USGS Quad Map Malpaíses (landform) National Park Service National Monuments in New Mexico Caves of New Mexico Lava tubes Natural arches of New Mexico Volcanic fields of New Mexico Protected areas established in