Bobcat Stories

By Kim Fike⁠
Field Science Educator⁠

Bosque School 6th graders have collected ecological data as a part of the Bosque Ecosystem Monitoring Program (BEMP) for over 30 years. Every month, they walk to two different BEMP sites, Savannah and Montano, just east of the Bosque School campus. They search for black rubber tubs beneath the Rio Grande Cottonwood trees, where they gather all the fallen leaves and collect them in labeled paper bags. Students use a water-level meter or ‘beeper’ lowered into a series of 5 wells at each site to determine groundwater depth and how it responds to river flows. In the winter months, they defrost rain gauges in their hands or armpits to determine how much precipitation fell over the past month. 

All of this student-collected data is shared with BEMP, a part of the University of New Mexico Department of Biology. They analyze the data from our 2 sites along with dozens more spread throughout the Middle Rio Grande and share their findings with management agencies who make multimillion-dollar decisions on how to care for the bosque ecosystem. 

Not only are our students studying the bosque, but they are experiencing it on a visceral level. They count the sandhill cranes flying overhead, put their hands in the cool sand by the riverside, and pull the prickles of tumbleweed from their socks. They learn to navigate, work with a team, follow scientific protocols, and dress for the weather. We are all stewards of this place, but to truly care for a place, we must foster passion through experience.