Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge

It was an amazing time hiking the refuge. Wish there was a better access to the Bosque as the weeds cover the pathway.

Valle De Oro is open to the public with a BEAUTIFUL new visitors center and several miles of trails. The visitors center has a cute gift shop where you can get everything from hats to water bottles to jewelry to kids toys to bird feeders and more. The visitors center also has an environmental justice library and lots of displays as well as murals, classrooms and meeting rooms that are available for the public to use through sign up on the Valle Del Oro website. There are several miles of trails and leashed dogs are allowed. One note, as of yet, there is no access to the river through the refuge. This is a really wonderful place and its still in its development stages so its just going to get better and better. Albuquerque is lucky to have its own urban wildlife refuge!

Finally, we have a National Wildlife Refuge right here in Albuquerque. They are always having open houses and special events. Though it is not officially open to the public, if you agree to take a tour with the Refuge Manager and are willing to abide by a few rules, you can go birding or exploring on the Refuge at your leisure.