Tranquility on the Bosque
By: Paul Dahlgren
Las Cruces Convention & Visitors Bureau

It’s hard to imagine what Las Cruces would look like 200 years ago, no buildings, no streets…just nature in its purest form.

It is this natural beauty that truly defines the Mesilla Valley Bosque State Park (MVBSP), as views of the sprawling Bosque sprinkled with native wildlife and vegetation give you a real sense of the raw beauty engrained in the Las Cruces area.

“The park is a natural area close to Las Cruces, that’s very quiet, very peaceful, with lots of wildlife,” said MVBSP Education Coordinator C. J. Goin, who also mentioned that it’s one of the few natural areas in Southern New Mexico, which is very close to the Rio Grande.

With 305 acres of mostly wetlands, adjacent to 620 acres of Chihuahuan desert and alongside three miles of the Rio Grande River, the Mesilla Valley Bosque State Park offers two separate trails that take you on a journey through the beautiful wetland and desert landscapes that are native to the Rio Grande habitat. The park also serves as a haven for a variety of birds and wildlife, and also offers stunning birding opportunities and intriguing general wildlife viewing.

Whether it’s hiking, birding, wildlife viewing, geocaching or just a stroll through the park on one of its many guided tours, the park gives visitors a true hands-on nature excursion through a habitat that was slowly fading into the pages of history.

“As far as activities that are popular in the park, hiking is popular activity as is birding, the park has excellent birding and general wildlife viewing. We do have two geocahe sites, and geocaching is a popular activity. Fishing is allowed in the river, but not in the drain or the ponds, so we do have limited fishing,” said Goin while explaining some of the popular activities at the park.

“Over two hundred species of birds may be seen in the park at various times of the year, we also have abundant amphibians, fish and reptiles, and we have lots of plants, some of the more interesting plants include cottonwoods, mesquite, willows and yerba Mansa,” said Goin, as he explained the rich environmental ecosystems in the Bosque and Desert that remain teeming with vegetation and wildlife.

Along with programs to educate local schools and teachers about the Bosque, the park offers a variety of tours, including a birding tour the first Saturday of every month, which, during fall migration, September and October, is being offered every Saturday.           

Ongoing exhibits at the park give visitors a glance into the native wildlife, vegetation, geography and geology of the Rio Grande habitat, as well as, information about the Mesilla Valley.

Along with an exhibit hall the park also hosts several events throughout the year, such as “On The River, For the River,” the Southwestern Environmental Center’s Annual Fundraising Banquet, which was held the at the park on September 26th.

Eventually planning to expand by acquiring the adjacent 620 acres of adjacent Chihuahuan desert from the Bureau of Land Management, the restoration of the natural Rio Grande habitat remains a key goal, as the process of replacing non-native saltcedar with native vegetation such as willows and cottonwoods is ongoing.

The park is located in Mesilla, at 5000 Calle del Norte, and is open from 7a.m. – 5p.m. during September 1 – March 31, and 7a.m. – 7p.m. during April 1 – August 31, but closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day.  There is a $5 per car fee to enter the park.

The park, which opened in December 13th, 2008, is New Mexico’s 34th state park, which also makes it New Mexico’s newest state park.

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