Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge

Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge Welcome to the official Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge page!
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Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge Invasive Plant Treatment for SEPTEMBER 2026-Image description: Image shows map of ...
09/01/2026

Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge Invasive Plant Treatment for SEPTEMBER 2026
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Image description: Image shows map of Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge including areas highlighted in purple along roads, trails and around the visitor center indicating manual/mechanical treatment for invasive plants.

Stop by next week! You might get a chance to see killdeer, dragonflies, Woodhouse’s toads, Wilson’s phalarope, and more!...
08/30/2026

Stop by next week! You might get a chance to see killdeer, dragonflies, Woodhouse’s toads, Wilson’s phalarope, and more!

Starting August 31, the Biology Team will be flood irrigating our Playa Wetland using ground water. By flooding this small area on the refuge, we’ll be supporting both wildlife, and restoration activities as new plants are added to the seasonal wetland.
Visitors are welcome to use the trails to view wildlife, but please enjoy them from a distance as they seek refuge in the Playa.
The refuge trails are open every day, and our visitor center where you can stop in and ask questions about our habitat restoration work, check out our exhibits, and visit the nature store- is open Tuesday through Saturday 9 AM to 4 PM.
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Image description:3 photos, the first of six brown and white shore birds in water amongst green plants, the second two show a flooded wetland habitat surrounded by green plants under a wide blue sky with fluffy clouds and the Sandia mountains in the distance.

We've got over 90 new native plants coming to the refuge in August and we'll need your help to get them settled in their...
08/01/2026

We've got over 90 new native plants coming to the refuge in August and we'll need your help to get them settled in their new home where they will help restore wildlife habitat! Sign up as a volunteer for this upcoming Build Your Refuge Day on Tuesday, August 25th from 8 AM to 10 AM by sending an e-mail to Ranger Dakota at: [email protected]
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Image description: A photo of a leafy green plant freshly planted in dirt with water at its base in the foreground, with yellow grasses and three people kneeling putting plants in the ground in the background. At the top of the photo there are logos for the National Wildlife Refuge System, Ciudad Soil & Water Conservation District, Friends of Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge, Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, and the New Mexico Backyard Refuge Program. Text on the photo reads: "Build Your Refuge Day. Tuesday 8.25, 8 to 10 AM. Help us get native plants in the ground to create wildlife habitat! Send an email to Ranger Dakota to sign up:
[email protected]"

Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge Invasive Plant Treatment for AUGUST 2026-Image description: Image shows map of Val...
07/31/2026

Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge Invasive Plant Treatment for AUGUST 2026
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Image description: Image shows map of Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge including areas highlighted in purple along roads, trails and around the visitor center indicating manual/mechanical treatment for invasive plants.

The Summer Plant Walk is this Tuesday, July 14 from 9:30 AM to 11:00 AM!Join Ranger Dakota for an easy walk around the v...
07/13/2026

The Summer Plant Walk is this Tuesday, July 14 from 9:30 AM to 11:00 AM!
Join Ranger Dakota for an easy walk around the visitor center to learn about native plants and how they survive and thrive in our most intense season here in the desert. We'll see who's blooming, who's fruiting and who's hunkering down to make it through the heat.
Program is FREE and no registration is required. Just meet at the visitor center and come prepared to be out in the sun for a little over an hour (long sleeves, long pants, big hats, sunglasses, sunscreen and a water bottle are recommended!).

Image description:
A collage of four photos: a blooming yellow sunflower, a bright orange globemallow blossom, a purple and white desert willow flower with a park ranger's face behind it and a white Apache plume blossom.

What is a moth? How are they different from butterflies? What do they eat? How can you find them? What kinds of Moths do...
07/11/2026

What is a moth? How are they different from butterflies? What do they eat? How can you find them? What kinds of Moths do we have in New Mexico? And what is “mothing”?
Ranger Sierra will answer these questions and more during her Mysterious Moths presentation. Come celebrate National Moth Week, July 18th-26th with us at Valle de Oro!
✨ Saturday July 18th – Mysterious Moths Night | 7pm-10pm
Learn about these mysterious creatures with Ranger Sierra. Followed by a live mothing demonstration and data collecting event at the refuge. Participate in citizen science at YOUR wildlife refuge. Suggested age is 15+
RSVP required, spots are limited – Email [email protected] to reserve your spot.

🌙 Friday July 24th – Moth Edition of Nature Kids Ages 6-10 | 10am – 1130am
Join Ranger Sierra to learn about moths, enjoy a story time, and create your own moth themed tea towel for your home.

🐛 Saturday July 25th – Mysterious Moths Presentation |10am -12pm
Ranger Sierra will be doing a diurnal (daytime) presentation of her moth program. This is a scientific presentation, suggested age range is 15+



Image Description: A smiling Ranger holds up a book titled “The Lives of Moths – A Natural History of our Planet’s Moth Life” by Andrei Sourakov & Rachel Warren Chadd

Learn about our upcoming program! The Nature of Tea, Observing Nature through the Art of Brewing Tea.What is the Nature ...
07/09/2026

Learn about our upcoming program! The Nature of Tea, Observing Nature through the Art of Brewing Tea.
What is the Nature of Tea at Valle de Oro? It’s a FREE informative ranger talk and an interactive community workshop featuring free tea samples and snacks provided by the Friends of Valle de Oro!
The program is about using our daily rituals, like drinking tea, to intentionally connect to our local landscape and its seasons. It’s about finding & weaving connections between our local Rio Grande cottonwood trees and the tea trees that grow the tea we drink. By focusing our senses on tea and the practice of noticing flavors and scents, we learn how to be naturalists with all of our senses.
Nature of Tea participants learn about and practice tea brewing techniques that help reveal the chemical & sensory stories of trees that are hidden in tea leaves.
After a ranger talk about tea culture and the landscapes of the Rio Grande Valley, participants practice brewing and drinking tea together to observe differences in flavor and smell.
We’ll brew four different teas together, each aligned with one of the four seasons, to learn about seasonal changes in plants and animal behavior in the Rio Grande bosque. Each brew will come with suggestions on how to bring your tea ritual outdoors!
All of the teas brewed in the workshop are pure Camellia sinensis leaves, processed in different ways that bring forward dramatically different tasting experiences. All teas contain caffeine!
Ready to sign up for The Nature of Tea?
Space is limited!
Send an email to: [email protected] to sign up for one of our two upcoming workshops:
Saturday, August 8th, 9:30 am to 12:30 pm
Tuesday, September 8th, 9:30 am to 12:30 pm

Image description: Infographic features the above text and photos of people brewing and tasting tea in a forest and in an indoor workshop.

Summer is a busy time here at Valle de Oro and we need all the help we can get as we continue working to build a safe pl...
07/02/2026

Summer is a busy time here at Valle de Oro and we need all the help we can get as we continue working to build a safe place for wildlife and people here in the South Valley! This summer we are looking for folks to help with watering native plants to help them get established and for folks who can help remove invasive plants from our habitats. There is no minimum time requirement, and volunteer schedules are very flexible! New volunteers join a welcoming community of people dedicated to a vision of habitat restoration here at the first urban national wildlife refuge in the southwest!
If you are interested in becoming a volunteer, send an email to Ranger Dakota at: [email protected]

Image description: Image is a collage with two photos, one in the bottom left of a smiling volunteer wearing a large hat pulling tumbleweeds, the other of a volunteer flexing their arms. There are two graphics of flowers on a green background with orange text reading: "A Refuge Built by Volunteers, Join us!"

Check out the schedule for our Summer 2026 shuttle tour dates! Shuttle tours are free and on-demand from 9:30 AM to 2:00...
07/01/2026

Check out the schedule for our Summer 2026 shuttle tour dates! Shuttle tours are free and on-demand from 9:30 AM to 2:00 PM each advertised date, just check in at the visitor center. The open-air shuttle is a great way to get outside and learn about the refuge during the summer heat! Tours last approximately 45 minutes.
Join us for a ride on these dates:
Saturday July 4
Saturday July 25
Friday August 7
Saturday August 8
Saturday August 29
Friday September 4
Saturday September 5
Saturday September 26

Image description: a park ranger standing in front of a colorful mural holds up a flyer with the above listed dates for shuttle tours.

Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge Invasive Plant Treatment for JULY 2026-Image description: Image shows map of Valle...
07/01/2026

Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge Invasive Plant Treatment for JULY 2026
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Image description: Image shows map of Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge including areas highlighted in purple along roads, trails and around the visitor center indicating manual/mechanical treatment for invasive plants.

Address

7851 2nd Street SW
Albuquerque, NM
87105

Opening Hours

Monday 6am - 6pm
Tuesday 6am - 6pm
Wednesday 6am - 6pm
Thursday 6am - 6pm
Friday 6am - 6pm
Saturday 6am - 6pm
Sunday 6am - 6pm

Telephone

+15052486667

Website

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