Article by Cari Powell, Friends of Bosque del Apache’s Pollinator Habitat Enhancement Project Manager ; Photos by Erv Nichols.
On Saturday, August 16, 2025, as part of the Friends of Bosque del Apache’s Summer Pollinator Celebration Event, the Friends, refuge staff and supporters officially opened the Pollinator Habitat Enhancement Project’s “wings” of the Observation Blind Trail with a ribbon cutting ceremony for Bosque del Apache’s newest public trail. Around forty visitors, volunteers and staff came out to tour the new trail and appreciate pollinators in action. A monarch or two was even present for the celebration!
The morning started with a stroll along the half mile of new accessible trails. Friends volunteers were present with handouts about the project as well as a list of the plants which have been planted at the site to support native pollinators. A newly designed interpretive sign was also unveiled, the first in a series which are set to be completed by the end of 2025.
The Pollinator Habitat Enhancement Project is a labor of love and partnership between the Friends, Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge and the Institute for Applied Ecology’s River for Monarchs project. The site has been planted with native trees, bushes, grasses, and wildflowers as well as seeded with native wildflower seeds.
Before publicly unveiling the new trail for the first time I was honored to give a little speech and cut the ribbon while surrounded by so many others who have put in so much work to make this project a reality! I’ve been racking my brain for weeks trying to decide how I could shorten my ribbon cutting speech from the day of the event for this Bosque Watch update, but finally decided that maybe it’s best not to reinvent the wheel! My original speech, listed below, gives a little bit of the project’s history and a lot of gratitude for the folks who have helped along the way. I hope you’ll find the time to visit season after season to watch the site flourish and continue to develop.
As read aloud on August 16, 2025 during the unveiling of Bosque del Apache’s newest public trail:
“This special project has spanned three refuge managers, two lead refuge biologists, one pandemic and almost seven years. So, it’s been quite a journey to get us here today!
Talks of a project to support pollinators began in 2018 between the Friends, volunteers and refuge staff. A site, this site, was presented as an option at that time and the Friends begin looking for funding and possible partnerships. Our first step forward was a financial contribution from the James D and Jane P Watermolen Foundation in 2019 and next we received funding from the Petschek family who also support our Desert Arboretum.
Around this time the Institute for Applied Ecology approached us about being part of a bigger project called the River for Monarchs. This project aims to restore 16 stepping-stone habitat sites for monarch butterflies and other native pollinators along a 200-mile stretch of the Rio Grande corridor in New Mexico by planting native milkweed and nectar plant species. A pandemic and one unfunded grant application set the River for Monarchs Project back a couple of years but funding for the project was finally secured in 2023 through the Carroll Petrie Foundation. Bosque del Apache is the southernmost site in this project.
In the meantime, The Friends had also decided to move forward with hiring a local ecologist and her team to write our plan for this site to be an additional benefit for humans and pollinators. By early 2023, I was working for the Friends of Bosque del Apache and managing the Desert Arboretum. I had heard about this desire to make a pollinator supporting site and had heard about a Trails + grant through the New Mexico Economic Development Department’s Outdoor Recreation Division. I knew this site was a perfect fit and I applied for a $58,000 grant to assist with trail building and interpretive signage. We were awarded that grant in late summer of 2023. We received additional funding from the Thaw Charitable Trust in early 2024.
During the Fall of 2023, with the help of over fifty volunteers, we planted over two hundred pollinator-friendly native shrubs and bushes as well as two species of milkweed. In the Spring of 2024, we seeded the site with native wildflowers and in the Fall of 2024 we planted 1,300 milkweed and wildflower starts. Additional accessible trails have been added at the site to give access to the areas where pollinator friendly plant enhancement is occurring. New interpretive signage will educate visitors about the amazing interaction between pollinators and plants. We will repurpose the old observation blind to create an accessible outdoor classroom space with an interpretive display. We are also committed to enhancing this site without harmful herbicides.
This project and all this work would not be possible without a plethora of volunteers and assistance from refuge staff here at Bosque del Apache. Refuge staff have participated in extensive planning, they’ve helped augur holes for planting days, they’ve delicately moved large clumps of native grasses, cleared trees, built this new trail and much more. Around seventy five volunteers have provided over six hundred hours of work at this site; planting, seeding, digging invasive grasses, hauling water and enthusiastically showing up to help with whatever the site needs.
Lastly before we officially cut the ribbon, I want to thank some very important people who have made this project a reality! As I mentioned before, this project wouldn’t be possible without the financial assistance of our funders; The James D and Jane P Watermolen Foundation, The Petschek Family, The Thaw Charitable Foundation and the New Mexico Outdoor Recreation Division’s Trails + Grant. I’d like to give a huge thank you to the staff at Bosque del Apache; specifically to Amanda Walker for all the planning and logistics help, for her encouragement and for always getting the dump trailer out here for us to fill with invasive plants. Thank you to our Lead Biologist Claire Revekant for her review of our plant lists to be sure we’re planting the most helpful pollinator plants. Thank you to former refuge manager Mike Brady for prioritizing this trail among all the important work happening throughout the refuge. Thank you to our dedicated current and former maintenance staff Josh, Brice, John, Ryan and Isaac who have toiled away countless hours auguring holes, moving plants, creating this beautiful trail and never complaining when I ask them for “one more thing.”
I’d like to thank the Friends Executive Director Deb Caldwell for always believing in me and for her gentle prodding and encouragement throughout the years to keep this project as a priority. A humungous thank you goes to Friends volunteer Tom Hyden who has been a champion of this project from the beginning. He’s my right hand for project implementation, water system building and my plant mentor extraordinaire. I’d like to thank the staff at the Institute for Applied Ecology, Tyler, Emily and Laney for gathering native seeds, growing wildflower starts and celebrating the small wins with me. It truly took a large “community” to make this dream a reality – and I hope I have not forgotten anyone!
This project would not have become a reality without the many, many volunteers who have helped along the way. From picking up plants in Albuquerque, to working tirelessly planting, seeding, digging johnsongrass and hauling 5-gallon buckets of water around to establish plants. A special thank you goes out to my Socorro Garden Club ladies, Mary, Wendy and Hope for their unending dedication to pollinators. I’d like to give one last thank you to the Friends of Bosque del Apache board of directors for their belief in the magic of Bosque del Apache and this value of this project specifically.
As this site changes season to season and year by year, as native plants establish, flourish and spread, I hope you’ll come back to enjoy the site over and over again. I hope you’ll tell your friends about this special place and bring your family to enjoy it as well.”