As backcountry visitation increases, finding and protecting undocumented resources such as Native American pictographs and cooking pits become more and more important. Soil erosion, grazing, and wildfires can also cause irreparable damage to the park's cultural resources, but the park has lacked the funds to evaluate and mitigate such threats. Baseline Data Needed. The park lacks basic information about water sources and water flow within its boundaries. Such water is critical both to plants and wildlife and to the cave formations.
Water is scarce in the park's desert climate and threatened by increased backcountry visitor use.
Data concerning total drainage area, surface flows, percolation, and flooding potential are needed to inform management decisions about park development, visitor use, and external threats to park resources.