At the end of each year we review some of our videos and location shots. Among the videos we saw this past year were a collection of location shots from the De-Na-Zin Wilderness. The hoodoos and colors were wonderful, full of fantastic shapes and beautiful hues of reds and greens and tans. It inspired us to share this short slide show of this incredible world.
Better known as the Bisti Badlands, the De-Na-Zin Wilderness is located south of Farmington in San Juan County, New Mexico. The Bisti Badlands occupies the northwest corner of the San Juan Basin, a large sedimentary formation containing one of the longest and most complete fossil records in the world spanning the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary. The outer edges of the basin date from the late Triassic period about 230 million years ago. The center of the formation dates to the mid Paleogene period, about 38 million years ago.
Translated from the Navajo word Bistahí, Bisti means “among the adobe formations.” De-Na-Zin, from Navajo Dééł Náázíní, translates as “Standing Crane.” The Bisti Badlands derives its colors from the Fruitland and Kirtland formations. Gray shales, brown and purple iron concretions, and hard red rock called clinker from underground coal fires come from the Fruitland formation while the greens, browns, whites and additional purples come from the Kirtland formation.
The Bisti Badlands is the location for our short video, Bisti Dreaming. This is one of the first videos Denise attempted, but it is still an all time favorite. From the green room at the Santa Fe Community Collage to on site in the badlands, Denise was able to pull it all together in a marvelous fantasy about a truly awe inspiring place.
See the documentary about activist, writer and photographer, Mike Richie, and his efforts to protect 5 New Mexico San Juan badlands from the continued pillaging of petrified wood and other minerals, illegal woodcutting, off road vehicle destruction and over grazing.