Elephant Rocks

Location: Rio Grande County
Size: 378 acres  
Designated: 1994
Land Manager: Bureau of Land Management

Elephant Rocks are a weathered remnant of the Fish Canyon tuff, dating from the late Oligocene period roughly 28 million years ago. The rocks themselves support an occurrence of the rare parsley Neoparrya lithophila, (rock-loving neoparrya). This member of the parsley family favors igneous outcrops or sedimentary rocks derived from volcanic eruptions. An interesting mixture of short grass prairie and foothill shrub land vegetation occurs on the site.