Las Vegas National Wildlife Refuge to reopen with Summerfest celebration
This Saturday, June 8, the Las Vegas National Wildlife Refuge will host a Summerfest celebration with free food, music and activities for the entire family. The Las Vegas National Wildlife Refuge will host a Summerfest celebration on June 8, offering free food, music, and activities for the entire family. The event will mark the reopening of the visitor center, which has been closed for more than four years. Children's activities will include archery provided by New Mexico Game & Fish Department, live reptiles brought by the New Mexico Wildlife Center, and fish brought by Mora National Fish Hatchery. The winners of a poster contest hosted by the refuge will be announced during the event. The visitor center has been open from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. daily, with limited parking hours.
Pubblicato : 3 settimane fa di Vanessa Maciel in Science
This Saturday, June 8, the Las Vegas National Wildlife Refuge will host a Summerfest celebration with free food, music and activities for the entire family.
The Summerfest, set to take place from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. at the refuge, 435 NM Hwy 281, will mark the reopening of the visitor center, which has been closed for more than four years.
“(Summerfest) will be fun, very family-friendly,” said Alyssa Lu, visitor services manager for the Northern New Mexico National Wildlife Refuges Complex, which comprises the Las Vegas, the Rio Mora and the Maxwell national wildlife refuges.
“We will have crafts, a bunch of exhibitors,” Lu added. “We’ll have activities for children.”
There will be an opportunity to explore special areas of the refuge not normally accessible to the public, according to a press release from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Las Vegas National Wildlife Refuge.
Lu said that the backroads of the refuge will be open so that visitors can drive through and see wildlife from their vehicle.
Free food during the event will include coffee, juice and doughnuts in the morning and Frito pies and hot dogs in the afternoon, Lu said.
Children’s activities will include archery provided by the New Mexico Game & Fish Department, live reptiles brought by the New Mexico Wildlife Center and live fish brought by the Mora National Fish Hatchery, said Lu.
The winners of a poster contest hosted by the refuge will be announced during the event, Lu said. The poster contest involved Las Vegas and Mora children from grades pre-K through the eighth grade who were asked to make a small poster depicting wildlife. Different grades were given different animals to draw, Lu said. Animals that children were asked to draw included elk, bison, pronghorn, monarch butterflies and the grasshopper mouse, to name a few.
All the artwork that was submitted will be on display Saturday, Lu said, and awards will be given to the best artwork in each grade level.
There will be a shuttle service during the event to bring visitors to and from their vehicles to the visitor center.
“If people are worried about parking, there’s plenty of it,” Lu said.
The visitor center has been shut down since March 2020, a decision that was initially due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Lu said. She said the visitor center then remained closed for remodeling. The press release from the refuge states that the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire also impacted the decision to keep the visitor center closed.
The remodeling done to the center involved closing in a back patio and revamping the center’s HVAC system, Lu said.
The visitor center has had a soft opening and has been open from 9 a.m.-3 p.m., Tuesday-Thursday, Lu said. Recently, availability on Fridays and Saturdays has been added. The Summerfest celebration will be the center’s “hard launch,” Lu said.
The visitor center has exhibit areas where visitors can learn more about what the refuge offers, Lu said. It also has restrooms and a media room to be used for events and interpretive programming.
Lu described interpretive programming as a variety of activities such as videos, presentations, craft making, doing an investigation around the refuge or touring the refuge with a biologist.
“Throughout the summer, we plan on doing some interpretive programming,” Lu said. “People can come out and learn more about the wildlife.”
Spanning 8,672 acres, Las Vegas National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1965 as a migratory bird refuge, Lu said. It is open year-round, every day, from sunrise to sunset, she said.
The refuge has two hiking trails, Lu said, the Meadowlark Trail, which is ADA accessible and about a half mile long as well as the Gallinas Nature Trail, which is a more challenging hike and is almost two miles long.
There is also a driving loop, Lu said, which takes travelers southbound down Hwy 281 and to County Road C22C.
“As people drive up, they have the opportunity to see the elk herd we have up here,” Lu said. Travelers can also experience migrating hawks that come through the area during this time of year, Lu said, as well as badgers, deer and songbirds.
For more information about the event or the Las Vegas National Wildlife Refuge, call 505-425-3581 or visit fws.gov/refuge/las-vegas.
Temi: Wildlife