Wildlife & Habitat Conservation

June, 2019

• 13 June

  Black-footed ferrets reintroduced

  

  Hiding inside small pet carriers in the back of a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service truck, eight very rare animals that once thrived in New Mexico waited to go home. It was a sunny, late September afternoon when wildlife biologists, conservationists, ranchers and local residents gathered on the side of …
• 13 June

  Wildlife water woes

  

  Wildlife in the southeast New Mexico desert get a new drinker If you are from southeastern New Mexico or have spent any time here you know it is a dry and at times hot climate. It can be really hot, windy and dry in the summer months with not much …
• 13 June

  BioBlitzing

  

  Taking inventory of the Mesilla Valley Bosque In the pre-dawn hours of Mesilla, bleary-eyed biologists are debating whether the large black bird they just saw fly over was a common raven or a Chihuahuan raven. The discussion isn’t pedantic one. They are participants in a BioBlitz at Mesilla Valley Bosque …
• 13 June

  Out of Range

  

  Moose from southern Colorado wander into New Mexico Moose have called the Rocky Mountains home for millennia but have never been found as far south as New Mexico, until recently. Since the 1990s, moose have occasionally been spotted in northern New Mexico around the Taos, Chama and Tierra Amarilla areas. …

May, 2019

• 23 May

  Q&A: Living with bears

  

  Q&A with Department biologist Rick Winslow

April, 2019

• 18 April

  Black-footed ferrets reintroduced to New Mexico once again

  

  Hiding inside small pet carriers in the back of a U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service truck, eight very rare animals that once thrived in New Mexico waited to go home. It was a sunny, late September afternoon when wildlife biologists, conservationists, ranchers and local residents gathered on the side of …

February, 2019

• 27 February

  Desert bighorn return to the Sacramento Mountains

  

  For the first time in nearly a century, desert bighorn sheep are roaming the Sacramento Mountains in southern New Mexico. On an early, mid-autumn morning last October, biologists and conservation officers gathered at the White Sands Small Missile Range to capture desert bighorn sheep and relocate them to their once-native …

January, 2019

• 7 January

  Rocky Mountain bighorn survey

  

  Department conducts latest Rocky Mountain bighorn survey It’s a cloudless, moonlit late June morning, shortly after 5 a.m., when Caitlin Ruhl, bighorn sheep biologist with the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, turns west on NM-502 toward Los Alamos. The day starts this early because bighorn sheep are easier …
• 7 January

  Out of Range

  

  White-nosed coatis heading north or just heading home? In early April, game wardens in Albuquerque received an unusual call: a white-nosed coati—also known as a coatimundi—was captured by a local pest control company in the village of Corrales situated on the Rio Grande Bosque in Sandoval County. Corrales—or, really, anywhere …
• 7 January

  Habitat Improvement

  

  Because Wildlife Depends on it . . . All outdoor enthusiasts love to see a lot of wildlife, whether it’s a hunter, hiker or photographer. Habitat improvements are implemented all over the world to benefit wildlife. New Mexico is no exception. These improvements not only play a pivotal role in …