The Albuquerque City Council votes Monday on whether to extend a major thoroughfare through a national monument. This report is from The Albuquerque Tribune.
Like most islands, the hotly contested patch of the Petroglyph National Monument is never free of what surrounds it.
Though birdsong is audible and jack rabbits flit between shrubs, the sounds and sights of New Mexico’s biggest city are never far away.
The rooftops of Ventana Ranch, advancing closer every day, are to the northwest.
To the northeast are the top windows of houses in Paradise Hills.
Off the escarpment, commuters motor on Golf Course Road, some turning in to Petroglyph Plaza for coffee, groceries or gasoline. If it’s rush hour, they might need all three before committing to the stop-and-go drive they’ll confront.
But in the midst of all this, directly underfoot, are barely-visible etchings, scratched there by American Indians, the National Park Service says. About 50 previously unknown works were found on the site in early April.
It’s just 8 acres. Federal legislation pushed by U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, an Albuquerque Republican, carved it out of the 7,244-acre park to make way for extending Paseo del Norte to the west.
It’s a great place for a walk, maybe to explore the fingerprints of a long-gone people.
It’s a great place to put a road, cresting the hill before sweeping down to Albuquerque’s East Side.