ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – If you’ve been in the Bosque near the Rio Grande Nature Center lately, you may have noticed some areas looking a little more sparse than usual. However, it’s actually part of a statewide initiative to liven up habitats along the Rio Grande come spring.
It’s a project the city is hoping will bring butterflies to the community.
“Our pollinators are in need of some help,” said Dustin Chavez-Davis, project coordinator, with the City of Albuquerque’s Open Space Division, “There are some threats in terms of development, use of pesticides, so yeah. We really want to preserve this space where, you know, there’s a safe area for them to thrive.”
That’s why, on Friday morning, people worked on a cleared meadow on the banks of the Rio Grande.
“We have some sites where we’ve removed some invasive species—so some of the Siberian Elm and Russian Olive that have been introduced to this area, and they grow quite aggressively, and get established and can shade and block other native species from growing,” Chavez-Davis stated.
While it may look sparse now, over the weekend, more than a thousand new native plants will be put in here for a very important reason: it’s called the River for Monarchs project.
The city is partnering with the Institute for Applied Ecology along with more than a dozen other agencies on one of 16 sites throughout New Mexico planting native plants, like milkweed, to create new habitats for monarch butterflies and other pollinators.
“We’re trying to plant about 1,500 plugs, so those are little plants that have been grown in a nursery that are going to get planted in their new home here in the bosque,” Chavez-Davis stated.
“The milkweed is really great for the monarchs in particular. They need the milkweed to lay their eggs,” stated Lauren Urenda, a bosque field technician with the City of Albuquerque’s Open Space Division.
Over the weekend, 50 volunteers from the community will be out digging roughly four acres worth of habitat.
“It’s really rewarding to come out in the Bosque and to any local ecosystem, and to, you know, put your hands in the earth and to help cultivate this incredible ecosystem,” Urenda explained.
“If we can plant things now, in the fall, we can get a good root system established, and then in the spring, those perennial plants will come right up from the root and be healthy and ready to bloom and provide those resources for pollinators in the spring,” Chavez-Davis elaborated.
They hope this effort will bring more butterflies and pollinators to the area: “Monarchs and other pollinators are really important for upkeeping the ecosystem, keeping the ecosystem happy. You know, a lot of plants here are insect pollinated, so helping to keep these pollinators healthy and alive helps keep the whole ecosystem continuing in these yearly cycles year after year for the wildlife and for the people here to enjoy,” Urenda stated.
Urenda said this could also make a positive impact on the global ecosystem: “Migration is really special because when we help with our local species here that migrate, we’re also helping with ecosystems across the world that they will then go to as they pass through or as they migrate in the next season.”
The city said they have filled their quota for volunteers this weekend.
