The Jemez Mountains: A Cultural and Natural History

by Thomas W. Swetnam

The Jemez Mountains are a quintessential New Mexico landscape. For centuries, Pueblo, Spanish, and Anglo cultures have mixed and melded here. Many ancient villages are scattered across the mesas and in the canyons below the Valles Caldera--the crater of a giant, slumbering volcano. Rocks and trees of this landscape tell stories of past eruptions, lava flows, droughts, floods, forest fires, and hot springs damming a river. People tell stories of conquistadores, pueblos, and priests, of battles for land and water, of farming and sheep herding, and of raiders, rustlers, forest rangers, and hippies.

This book recounts some of these fascinating stories in forty brief chapters, with more than a hundred photographs, maps, and drawings. Matched photographs of the same views taken up to 150 years apart attest to striking change and apparent stasis. Major alterations have occurred in some places over the past two centuries due to human activity, and increasing climate change threatens further transformation.

For those new to the Jemez Mountains, these stories and images will provide an introduction to the cultural and natural history of the area. Residents and longtime aficionados of the Jemez will find both familiar and surprising stories and will gain a renewed sense of the magnificence of this place.

352 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2025

About the author

Thomas Swetnam is a forest scientist and fire ecologist. He has studied pine and giant sequoia forests of the western U.S., Mexico, South America, and Siberia, Russia. He uses tree rings – dendrochronology – to investigate fire, climate, and human history. He is Regents Professor Emeritus at the University of Arizona, where he was Director of the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research. His honors include: Harold C. Fritts Lifetime Achievement Award, Tree-Ring Society; Harold Biswell Award for Lifetime Achievement, Association for Fire Ecology; American Association for the Advancement of Science, Fellow; Henry Cowles Award, Association of American Geographers; William Skinner Cooper Award, Ecological Society of America. He currently resides in Jemez Springs, New Mexico.

Reviews

[Matt Heavner · Rating 4 out of 5]

great perspective(s) and stories of the Jemez. A really fun read.

[Kerry Pickens · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Jemez Mountains are a beautiful area that doesn't get as much tourist traffic as it probably deserves because of its location. The area is just south of Los Alamos and northwest of Albuquerque. If you travel from Los Alamos, you can visit the Bandelier National Monument and Valle Calderas which is a geological phenomena that was once the site of a volcano but the point where several geological plates meet. Both places attact tourists, but not as many people are willing to keep on the road past these sites to see the Jemez Pueblo and surrounding area. The most famous resident of Jemez is the Puliter Prize winning author M. Scott Momaday, which is quite a achievement considering he came from such a remote location. The book is quite interesting because it has a lot of hold maps and photographs as well as documents an area that has been inhabited by Native Americans since the 13th century. When the Spaniards moved into the Pecos Mountains the Native Americans there also fled to the Jemez Pueblo for safety. It is a very picturesque place with mountains, aspen trees and hiking trails. The area also has some dark history because the Catholic Church built a rehabilitation center for wayward priests in the Jemez (i.e. pedophiles). When I went hiking in October 2023, a woman named Ingrid Lane had attended a retreat in Jemez Springs and then went hiking. She was seen by some men hunting in area, and then never seen again. Her car was found with the window broken and there have been some reports of her being seen in Albuquerque since then but there is no confirmation she is still living.

[Katie Bruell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I'm not generally a fan of reading history, but each chapter was short and engaging. Swetnam and his family are obviously good people, and I enjoyed the tidbits of his personal history that he included throughout the book. Since I know the Jemez well, I was more invested than the casual reader might be. Highly recommend for any current or former resident of the Jemez area!

[Wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everything you ever wanted to know about the Jemez Mountains—and then some. Swetnam covers every facet of the region without being overly lengthy. It’s fascinating to learn that such a peaceful place has such an eventful past—anthropologically, geologically, and otherwise.
As with any area-specific book, The Jemez Mountains will certainly interest us locals, though I’m not sure how well it would fare with readers from elsewhere. It is a touching love letter nonetheless.