Carlsbad Caverns

Why is it protected? In 1930 President Hoover created a national park around the beautiful formations. The park is 46,766 acres and has 80 caves. They are all formed in the same way: the water that drips from the cave ceiling has a mineral in it called calcite and as the water drips the calcite forms rock formations. We call some of these formations stalactites and stalagmites. Some of the stalactites and stalagmites are lit so they make beautiful shadows. When stalactites and stalagmites meet they form a column. Three million years ago the caves used to be a coral reef deep in the ocean. This reef got pushed up to the surface. The tunnels were made by the groundwater chemicals that ate away at the coral reef. 

You will see lots of animals in and around the caverns such as 59 kinds of mammals, including bats, coyotes, mule deer, skunks, raccoons, and lots of rock squirrels. There are 44 kinds of amphibians and reptiles, including snakes, toads, lizards, and frogs. There are 273 kinds of birds from tiny humming birds to giant vultures and eagles. 
I am especially interested in the BATS! In fact, there is a whole room full of bats, there are so many bats that you can’t go in! The bats leave the caves at night so the park rangers have made a place where you can watch the bats come back in the early morning. Bats go into the tunnels a lot because they like to keep warm. On top of the caves 740 kinds of plants grow. Many of these plants are cacti.

Some things to do are: hiking trails,exploring caves and looking for frozen waterfalls. If you’re hiking and you get tired you can ride in an elevator up to the visitor’s center. 

Park rangers protect the land and help you when you’re lost and they are very friendly and give you great service. The park rangers give you maps and rules. He or she will answer your questions and sometimes they take you on walks and teach you things about the park. They also teach you the history about the park and how it was formed. They need lots of tools to help people in need, like if someone is hanging with two fingers onto a cliff they could help use one of their tools. They give them extra tools to help fight fires. If they see a fire on a hiking path then they need to know how to put it out. They need lots of cool kinds of truck so that if giant dusty rocks fall down and they need to move them they’ll have something to ride in that will protect them from the dust. I think it would be really fun to be a park ranger because you get to help people and go on hikes with them.