Bosque del Apache is a fragile but important jewel in the New Mexico high desert, and it is a true privilege to have access to such a rare wetland oasis – which is, in fact, one of the last remaining in the Desert Southwest! In honor of Valentine’s Day, we are choosing to focus our hearts and minds on deep appreciation for this irreplicable treasure.
In the following article, we hear from three true lovers of the refuge – Friends of Bosque del Apache Executive Director, Deb Caldwell, Friends member and Project Manager for Regenerative Ag project, Don Boyd, and Bosque del Apache Senior Biologist, Claire Revekant.
These three individuals, who have dedicated countless hours and boundless energy to the maintenance and preservation of this precious place, all shared a common theme in their messages – the necessary ingredient in the refuge’s recipe for success is the collaborative effort that is required to make this project work. As all three pointed out, it takes all of us caring, supporting, showing up, spreading the word and advocating, because we are all on the same team and Bosque del Apache needs us!
Reflections on Loss, Opportunity, and Gratitude
Video and following article by Deb Caldwell, Friends of Bosque del Apache Executive Director ( …and trust us, you definitely want the sound ON for this video!)
Have you been to Bosque del Apache in the winter and seen (and heard) the wild geese ascend from the wetlands – a blizzard of white against an azure sky? The experience always evokes in me a sense of wonder, excitement, and belonging. Mary Oliver’s poem “Wild Geese” springs to mind: “Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination, calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting — over and over announcing your place in the family of things.” The full text of Oliver’s comforting poem urges us to abandon self-criticism and despair to embrace our inherent belonging in the natural world. Our senses of “refuge,” belonging, and community are needed more than ever. In saving the beautiful places we love, we truly save ourselves.
After a long and full life, my mother died this past December. Leading up to and since that time, I have reflected on change and loss. Letting go is a painful but necessary part of life and it sometimes opens us up to new opportunities or to understand more deeply how we are loved and how we belong. With my mother’s loss came an outpouring of love and comfort from friends, family, and even strangers – cards, food, phone calls, and even donations to important causes. One example of this is that people have donated enough to Friends of Bosque del Apache in Mom’s memory that we’ll be able to buy some new benches and put in more plants at the Desert Arboretum or Pollinator/ Observation Blind Trail. Other friends and families have donated in their loved ones’ memories to such a degree that we have made upgrades to many areas and projects on the refuge – created trails and signs, added benches, rehabilitated habitat, made critical upgrades to the Friends House, etc.
This past and current year, the Middle Rio Grande Valley of New Mexico has not received sufficient rainfall or snowpack to fill critical refuge wetlands without using our groundwater wells. The electricity to run the pumps for these wells is expensive and, with our challenging year of budget cuts, filling the wetlands would have been impossible without help from our community of Friends. One of our donors provided enough funding to fill the wetland at a key moist-soil unit on the North Loop where our winter migratory flock could then access the food and water that they required. The Padillas at Chupadero Mountain View RV Park (just outside the boundary of the refuge) voluntarily funded three months of electricity to run the well that fills the Wetland Roost on the west side of Highway 1 as you drive onto the refuge – a popular spot for geese and cranes and therefore photographers and other wildlife observers. Combined donations of many other Friends made more miracles like these possible.
It truly takes a caring community to support our refuge. Of course, there are the talented refuge staff members, the Friends Board and staff, and our Friends members and donors. Also our volunteers tend the trails and gardens, run the Wildlife Trek tours, staff the Visitor Center Information Desk, and do so many other necessary and sometimes unpleasant tasks. Photographers who visit the refuge often send us their beautiful photos to share with everyone. Birders and hikers share their observations with Visitor Center staff or on eBird. Recently, New Mexico Tech Earth and Environmental Science faculty and interns have given hours of their time to review and gather data to help the refuge. Fiber Arts Guild of Socorro County has donated quilts for over a decade to raise substantial funds. High end donors have funded projects and interns. And the list goes on and on. Without hours of dedication from all of us, much would be left undone in this place we hold dear.
We can focus on loss and we can despair. We can wish that things would be as “glorious” as the best of what we remember in “better times.” We can be grateful. We can refuse to be overcome by despair and what we fear. We can find the small and large miracles that are around us every day if we look closely – the birds that migrate here each year in different seasons; the animals and plants that choose this as their year-round home; the people who find wonder in all that they witness and those who comfort us in sad times. We can ‘roll up our sleeves’ and choose how we can help, using our talents or contributions to make a difference in supporting places, wildlife, and people that we love. As Mary Oliver wisely says in another of her stunning poems, “When Death Comes”: “When it’s over, I don’t want to wonder if I have made of my life something particular and real… I don’t want to end up simply having visited this world.” Thanks to all of you who continue to help in making Bosque del Apache a beautiful and amazing place in all its seasons.
A Valentine to the Hardworking Bosque del Apache Staff
Editor’s Note: Due to staff reductions that occurred in 2025, several of the folks pictured here have moved on and are no longer working at Bosque del Apache.
By Don Boyd, Friends Member and Project Manager for Regenerative Ag project
There’s nothing like the threat of losing something to remind you of how important it is in your life. I was certainly reminded of this when it looked like recent government cuts to the budget and staff at Bosque del Apache NWR appeared it might threaten the refuge’s existence. For almost two decades, Bosque del Apache has been center stage in what attracts me to the Middle Rio Grande Valley: first, as an out-of-state visitor who joined thousands of others to witness the winter spectacle of a skyborne armada of geese and sandhill cranes; and finally as a nearby resident to the refuge that afforded me the opportunity to fulfill a personal quest to photograph it on a year-long daily basis.
The more I know about and experience the refuge, the clearer it becomes that the quality, hard work and passion of the refuge staff is what makes the refuge work. These are just a few of the things that the refuge staff are responsible for: cleaning out weeds, invasives, and debris that clog canals; eradicating salt cedar (tamarisk) and Russian olive trees; cutting “windows” in the coyote willow so visitors can see wildlife on the water; mowing grasses; moving water through miles of canals; maintaining roads; and ensuring that the moist soil units (the seasonal ponds that attract and feed waterfowl and wading birds and keep them safe from predators) are ready for the annual winter feathered visitors. In the busiest seasons, the staff’s work includes managing a volunteer and intern staff that can be three times the size of the professional staff. I have come to know some of the refuge staff members well enough to hear their stories of growing up amazed by birds nesting in home porches and always being fascinated by the natural world. For many of them, their job is the realization of a childhood dream. This “dream” was finally accomplished only after four or more years of college, followed by short-term subsistence internships necessitating moving around the country just to be able to build a little more experience for a resume that might get them the chance to have a career that they love. When resources are scarce, as they are now, the job is even more difficult. These are hard-working people who would have quit and done something else a long time ago if they hadn’t loved what they were doing. I know that they care deeply about our public lands and the wildlife we have given them the responsibility for protecting.
All their skill and work allow people like you and me to have those moments where we are overwhelmed by the beauty and awe of this small plot of riparian paradise. For me, it brings to mind the value of beauty – its ability to bring me into the moment, to reduce barriers between strangers so that I can turn to the unknown person next to me and say, “Did you see that!?” Each of us knowing that it was a moment we will always remember. Refuge is truly born in such moments.
Deb Caldwell, the Executive Director of Friends of Bosque del Apache, says it best when speaking about the refuge staff and concluding her public presentations — “Many people say that Bosque del Apache is ‘magical’. But, that magic can only happen through the herculean efforts of our amazing refuge staff to maintain habitat once created by a wild river. The magic doesn’t just happen here; they make it happen, and they need our support.”
Noticing the Small Things
Vermilion Flycatcher couple on nest. | Photo by Don Boyd.
By Claire Revekant, Bosque del Apache Senior Biologist
Have you ever heard something, perhaps said casually without any intention, that stayed with you for years and quietly shaped how you see the world? During my first internship with the US Fish and Wildlife Service, I worked in the saltmarsh at Parker River NWR, one of my favorite refuges. I love saltmarshes and all wetlands. I think there is a certain magic to them, in addition to their importance as being some of the most productive ecosystems on the planet. The sunrises there were breathtaking, much like the sunrises and sunsets here in New Mexico. Most mornings we woke up before daybreak to bird band, I would comment to the technician I worked under about how beautiful the sky looked. One morning she said to me, “I wish I appreciated the little things the way you do. I don’t even notice the sunrise anymore.” I’ve never forgotten those words. In that moment, I promised myself I would never stop noticing the small things, the ones that make your world feel big. So I don’t find it difficult to be excited about the bobcat crossing the road or the yellow warbler building its nest in the coyote willow. I can still relate to our visitors and share in their joy of being out in nature.
As Don shared in his “Valentine” to the refuge staff, it’s up to all of us to help create the “magic”. Together, we can make it happen. We are all (refuge staff, Friends groups, volunteers, donors, members, interns, and partners) doing the best we can. We are a team, and I feel incredibly fortunate to be part of one that is as passionate and committed as this community is.