Category Archive

Last week BEMP installed our 31st site in the bosque!  BEMPers measured out the site, dug wells and hammered in rebar.  This site in the South Valley will monitor a willow swale and high flow channel, so students monitoring the new site can expect some wet days in the spring and summer.

After collecting data at the Badger site near Alameda Bridge in November, Rio Rancho 6th graders interviewed BEMP educator Kelly and UNM intern Kelley R.. They asked questions about what changes BEMP has seen in the bosque since we began monitoring, how their daily actions impact the bosque and what the of the bosque looks like.

Students coming to Bosque School for BEMP’s Study Trips are now participating in a national citizen science program called Nature’s Notebook. Through this research, students collect phenology data: information about how and when the plants and animals of the bosque respond to seasonal changes and cycles. Students also collect abiotic data – like precipitation (pictured here) and groundwater levels of … Read More

Students from the UNM BEMP class participated in BEMP’s water quality monitoring. In addition to assessing environmental conditions in the bosque, BEMP also tests the water in the Rio Grande for potential contaminants three times per year. This work is supported through a EPA Urban Waters Small Grant, and is aimed at exposing more advanced students to detailed sampling protocols … Read More

On Monday and Tuesday, Oct 26th and 27th, BEMP staff and volunteers went to the – an event hosted by the city of Rio Rancho to teach students about the value of water in our community. Rio Rancho 4th graders cycled through the BEMP station, learning about local arthropods (bugs), plants of the bosque, the mammals that can be spotted … Read More

BEMP Monthly Monitoring continued with gusto this October. With the changing of the seasons, students tested their mettle through thunderstorms, hail, and lots of rain. The 7th graders of Jefferson Middle School did a fantastic job of monitoring during a torrential downpour on Wednesday, 10/21. They measured over an inch of rain at our “Open Rain Gauge” at their BEMP … Read More

Dyson’s Animal 2 or Dyson Ball Total Clean upright vacuum is a great vacuum. Dyson’s newest and most powerful full dimension animal upright vacuum cleaner. This “Complete Tidy” vacuum incorporates the Animal 2 with additional cleaning tools to complete all your cleaning needs. The mechanized brush bar and solid seal in suction makes this model perfect for eliminating family pet … Read More

Dr. Kim Eichhorst spies a garden spider in the field during one of three annual pitfall trap collecting events. BEMP scientists set pitfall traps throughout the Bosque and then observe the number and type of surface-active arthropods (bugs) that fall in them over 24 hours. This helps tell us more about the ecology of the bosque and how it is … Read More

This week BEMP started doing Study Trips with some of the 5th Graders from Georgia O’Keeffe Elementary School. Students sampled our Savannah Site wells, collected samples of native and exotic trees, and discovered how cool ant-lions are! They also got down and dirty with charcoal while discussing the impacts of fires on the bosque ecosystem.

BEMP works with high school students at several Albuquerque schools to develop and carry out research projects. Bosque School students started Operation Turtle and surveyed turtles in ponds around Albuquerque during the summers of 2014 and 2015.  In this picture Elijah (’15) shows students from Horizons and Bosque Summer how he measures and marks a turtle before releasing back into … Read More