La Madera, New Mexico
12 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1918 and the latest in 1995. It stands in the Vallecitos census division. It lies in ZIP code area 87539. It stands on Rio Tusas. The Survey maps it on the La Madera quadrangle. 140 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 6,532 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresLa Madera fell from 154 to 140 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 154 | |
| 2020 | 140 | -14 (-9%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
7 surveys from 12 printed sheetsMatched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.
- 1918 USGS Abiquiu quadrangle1:125000
- 1953 USGS La Madera quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1954 USGS Aztec quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1958 USGS Aztec quadrangle1:250000
- 1962 USGS Aztec quadrangle1:250000
- 1965 USGS Aztec quadrangle1:250000
- 1995 USGS La Madera quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
56 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 56 fires within 5 miles of La Madera between 1993 and 2017, burning about 63 acres in total. 30 started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Natural | 30 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 11 |
| Debris and open burning | 7 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 3 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 2 |
| Other causes | 1 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 1 |
| Smoking | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 September 2010 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Carson National Forest | TRASH |
| 22 September 2015 | Natural | under an acre | Carson National Forest | EAST ORTEGA |
| 11 September 2005 | Natural | under an acre | Carson National Forest | ANCONES |
| 8 August 2000 | Natural | under an acre | Carson National Forest | ROCK |
| 7 August 2007 | Natural | 1.5 acres | Carson National Forest | ORTEGA #2 |
| 26 August 1993 | Natural | 2.7 acres | Carson National Forest | not named |
| 25 August 2016 | Natural | under an acre | Carson National Forest | SERVILLETA |
| 15 August 2011 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Carson National Forest | ALAMOSA FIRE |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 68 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 68 workings within 5 miles of La Madera: 31 prospects, 18 past producers, 12 unknowns, 6 occurrences. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Mica, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Geothermal, Fluorine-Fluorite. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alamos Group | Beryllium, Mica, REE, Thorium, Feldspar, Uranium | Past Producer | 1870, 1875, 1950 | |
| Globe Mine | Mica, Niobium (Columbium), Feldspar | Past Producer | 1875, 1958 | |
| Globe Mine | Lithium, Mica, Niobium (Columbium) | Past Producer | ||
| La Madera Mine | Tantalum, Niobium (Columbium), Fluorine-Fluorite | Unknown | ||
| La Madera Mountain | Kyanite | Unknown | ||
| La Madera-Palomas Canyon Group | Beryllium, Mica, Uranium, Vanadium, Thorium, REE, Feldspar | Occurrence | 1910, 1925, 1955 | |
| Los Compadres | Quartz | Unknown | ||
| Maria Theresa Claims | Iron, Titanium, Metal, Phosphorus-Phosphates, Sulfur | Occurrence | 1945 | |
| Maria Theresa Group | Titanium | Occurrence | ||
| Quartzite | Mica, Stone, Crushed/Broken | Unknown |
Storms near this place
2 since 2013Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names La Madera in 2 storm reports between 2013 and 2014: 2 flash flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2013 | Flash Flood | La Madera | $100,000 | Highway 111 washed away along Rio Vallecitos. Vehicles parked at Ojo Caliente Mineral Springs Resort & Spa were among the damages and mudslides were reported along the hillsides near the resort. The RV and camping area was closed due to flooding. |
| July 2014 | Flash Flood | La Madera | $10,000 | A major footbridge was reported to have washed away on the Owl Peak Farm in La Madera. Both the Rio Ojo Caliente and the Tusas River rose to flood levels. The Rio Ojo Caliente showed a river rise from 6 cfs to 1120 cfs. |
Nearest settlements
The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| La Cueva (historical) | 1.4 miles | 12 | |
| Ancones | 2.8 miles | 12 | |
| Gallegos | 6.8 miles | 12 | |
| Las Placitas | 7.8 miles | 11 | |
| South Petaca | 7.8 miles | 12 | |
| Duranes | 8.1 miles | 12 | |
| El Rito | 8.4 miles | 11 | |
| Vallecitos | 8.5 miles | 12 |
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikipedia article on La Madera | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q5403126 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 2633185. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.






