Beaver Project

Small Mammal Trapping

Porcupine Program

Sevilleta Jack-rabbit Surveys

Wildlife in the Bosque

Some time in the last 12,000 years someone carved a mountain lion into a piece of basalt in what is now Petroglyph National Monument. In 1540 when Coronado first came to New Mexico he saw and commented upon the porcupine. In the 1930s the naturalist Vernon Bailey put those images into a food chain when he noted that mountain lions and coyotes sometimes successfully kill and eat porcupines. And today along the Rio Grande’s riverside forest, known as the bosque, students conducting environmental monitoring sometimes glimpse a coyote or watch a porcupine. And in so doing they participate in the long term work of humans coming to know their home ecosystem. All of those observations are part of New Mexico’s wildlife legacy and experience. The Black Institute for Environmental Studies at Bosque School is committed to the study and understanding of that wildlife legacy and the habitat that makes it possible.

From alpine tundra to desert scrubland, New Mexico is known for its wildlife diversity. Ranked by number of mammal species per state, only California exceeds New Mexico’s abundance. In the midst of New Mexico’s largest population center there exists a great piece of the state’s wildlife heritage. It is made possible by the diverse habitat conditions that extend from the Rio Grande’s riverside forest to the 11,000-foot high crest of the Sandia Mountains. This habitat also happens to include over a half million people. And where wildlife and people meet may sometimes be seen as a place for conflict, in truth it is far better to think of those places as ideal settings for education.

For eight years now, Bosque School, in partnership with others such as the University of New Mexico’s Biology Department and the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, has sought to support the scientific investigation of the environment at hand. This is done with the twin goals of supporting content rich, science education reform and the participation by middle and high school students in actual scientific research efforts. Each year, through projects such as the Bosque Ecosystem Monitoring Program (BEMP) and the New Mexico Watershed Watch program, several thousand students from across the state participate in science that extends beyond the classroom.

Now, the Black Institute at Bosque School is expanding its scientific monitoring activities to investigate specific mammal populations and how they can provide additional information about regional environmental conditions. These studies are collectively known as the “Mammal Initiative.” The five primary components of the Mammal Initiative involve coyotes, porcupines, beaver, blacktailed jackrabbits, and the small mammals, such as mice and kangaroo rats, that inhabit the bosque. Several are year round and ongoing while others happen on a less frequent schedule. All seek to understand the basic biology and environmental roles of wildlife populations within central New Mexico and how those populations can coexist with humans.

Each of these studies layers its mammal research on top of an existing habitat study, partners with a major research institution or program, and provides for the substantive participation of elementary, middle, and/or high school students from both Bosque School and other schools from across central New Mexico. Year round studies also include the participation by school age children in the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science’s summer science camp programs. All of the Mammal Initiative studies emphasize the ethical and humane interaction between humans and wildlife and none involve the taking or killing of animals. Each program also consists of students working regularly with university professors, veterinarians, and other wildlife professionals who in addition to serving as mentors also serve as project consultants.

Though many people often think of wildlife habitat as off in some distant jungle or preserve, simply put, we all live in wildlife habitat. And here in central New Mexico that habitat and its associated wildlife is a diverse treasure. The Mammal Initiative seeks to familiarize students with local wild fauna, help them to know how those animals are part of a larger ecosystem, and to then better understand how those wildlife populations can coexist within and adjacent to human populations.