Well, I woke up early this morning in the dark and cold, and the van was literally frozen shut. None of the doors or windows would open and the windshield wipers were also stuck. This is fun.....she said.
But, a small problem really as I just sat for 15 minutes with the car running and everything thawed. It was in the high 20s; I went to McDoanld's until the sun rose at which time I left for Sevillita NWR. I thought it was an hour away but it was only 20 miles, so I got there 30 minutes before it opened. It was 23 degrees there - a higher elevation, I guess and watched the feeder birds. when the VC opened at 8 a.m., I talked with the knowledgeable volunteer, a retiree from the National Park Service. He told me that the Campbell family, after ranching the land for 30 years, gave it to The Nature Conservancy who in turn gave it to the US Fish and Wildlife Service with the stipulation that it be returned to its natural state. Re-introducing Gunnison prairie dogs is one project. The refuge staff also works with scientists at the University of Mexico Long-Term Ecological Research Station adjacent to the VC in a Mexican Grey Wolf Recovery project, breeding and raising them in this remote facility, with minimal human contact, with a goal of a healthy, self-sustaining wild population again.
Sevilleta is one of the largest refuges at 230.000 acres; it has four distinct biomes: Colorado shrub steppe, short grass prairie, Chihuahuan desert and pinyon-juniper woodland, attracting researchers and scientists. It is bisected by Interstate 25 and the Rio Grande. It is not actively managed but rather left alone, allowing natural events (fires and floods for example) to prevail.
Some hunting is allowed, and there are a few trails and back-country primitive use, but this is not a refuge amenable to the public. I was shown an "auto-tour route" on the refuge map, not well marked, and without the volunteer explaining and pointing out very specific turns and roads, I would have been confused. It basically went down near the Rio Grande into habitat more easily accessed at Bosque del Apache, which also has this river running through it. There are not public use roads through most of the refuge, unlike Charles Russell in Montana which has a lengthy auto route through its one million plus acres.
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| Sevilleta NWR - NM |
In essence, it's a beautiful wild and remote place with diverse habitat, a refuge in the strict sense as I suspect not many people use it casually. I am interested in exactly what the next-door field station actually does and should have asked. I also would have loved seeing the wolves, even remotely, but again only thought about this later.
It had warmed up some as I drove back to Bosque. I drove the north loop again, watched a couple of Roadtunners, one of which flew up and perched in a tree, saw thousands of geese and cranes and dozens of ducks. The feeders at the VC were more active with eight or nine species, and a pair of Common Ravens sat side by side in a tree in the parking lot, tenderly touching their bills together.
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| Roadrunner at Bosque del Apache - NM |
And then I went back to Truth or Consequences where I mailed Christmas packages, picked up mail and spent time with a friendly FedEx couple who moved here from Rochester, Minnesota, and who how run this "kiosk" Fed Ex and the attached laundromat and live next store.
I worked until after midnight, spending way too much time on a new and particularly difficult dictator, but the reward was a bed with pillows, sheets and a thick comforter type cover.
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