San Luis Valley National Wildlife Refuges

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

9383 El Rancho Lane,
Alamosa, CO 81101
(719) 589-4021

General Information

The San Luis Valley National Wildlife Refuges are three unique wetland ecosystems within the San Luis Valley. The Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge is a 14,000 acre National Wildlife Refuge that lies the foot of the San Juan Mountains approximately six miles south of the town of Monte Vista. The 12,000 acre Alamosa National Wildlife Refuge lies in the heart of the San Luis Valley four miles east of Alamosa along old oxbows of the Rio Grande. The newly created Baca National Wildlife Refuge, near the community of Crestone will eventually protect over 58,000 acres of wildlife habitat.

Education Programs and Teaching Materials

The San Luis Valley National Wildlife Refuges offers three programs based on the Colorado Content Standards for K-4 students. These programs include three elements: A pre-field trip introduction, a hands-on field trip and a follow-up problem solving activity. All the programs are teacher led and the lessons can be downloaded from the refuge website at http://alamosa.fws.gov

Migrations!
This program connects students to the wonders of migration in the San Luis Valley. Through sensory awareness activities younger students are introduced to movement and wonder of the animal kingdom. Through scientific discovery and artistic explorations older students are exposed to the habits and habitat of the our most famous migratory resident—the Sandhill Crane.

Wetland Discovery!
Water is the lifeblood of the San Luis Valley, and our wetland ecosystems provide a mosaic of life on the arid landscape of the San Luis Valley. In this program younger children use their animal senses to know what a wetland looks, smells, feels, and sounds like. Older children will explore the complex relationships between the living (birds, bugs, mammals and plants) and non-living (mud, water, climate) to understand the importance of this unique ecosystem.

Colorado Junior Duck Stamp Program
This one-hour in-class program introduces students to art concepts, wildlife conservation and the National Wildlife Refuges in their own backyards. Students are then invited to participate in the San Luis Valley Feather Friends and Colorado Junior Duck Stamp contest to compete for prizes.

Learn more about San Luis Valley National Wildlife Refuges' education programs and teaching materials in ECEC's Teaching Resources.

Driving Directions and Maps [main map]

• Alamosa and Monte Vista NWR

Natural History

As seasons change in the San Luis Valley, so does the wildlife. Early summer nesting shorebirds (American avocets, Wilson's Phalaropes, white-faced ibis), and water birds (American bittern, sora, black-crowned night-herons) arrive.

Early spring brings clouds of ducks, cranes, and geese back to the Refuges, reminiscent of pre-European accounts. Thousands of northern pintails, sandhill cranes, and Canada geese can be seen throughout the valley refueling for their journey to northern breeding grounds.

In spring and fall, 95% of the Rocky Mountain population of sandhill cranes migrate through the San Luis Valley. Refuge farm fields and privately-owned farmland provide essential feeding habitat. Monte Vista NWR also provides safe roosting areas for migrating cranes.

When 'ice box' conditions of winter hit the valley, some waterfowl are found, but raptors dominate the Refuges' landscape. Short-eared owls winter and breed on both refuges. Wintering bald eagles can be seen fishing and roosting along the Rio Grande at Alamosa NWR, and many other raptors are found (northern harriers, rough-legged hawks, and great horned owls).

Elk, deer, coyotes, porcupines and beaver are some of the other wildlife you may see while visiting the refuges. Resident deer and elk are found on the refuges year round, while migrating herds are seen in the fall and winter moving from higher elevations to the valley floor.

Refuges' Significance
• Alamosa NWR provides important riparian habitat for the southwest willow flycatchers and other songbirds.
• The Monte Vista NWR is home to the largest colony of nesting water birds in Colorado.
• Portions of the Monte Vista NWR has some of the highest duck nesting densities in the country.

Cultural History

Diego de Vargas, a Spanish explorer, became the first European to see the valley. Lieutenant Zebulon Pike's expedition traveled through the valley while still a Spanish territory in 1806-1807. At the end of the Mexican War in 1848, the valley then became an American territory. Even then the San Luis Valley was a tapestry of wetland habitats woven by the winding Rio Grande River as well a many naturally occurring springs.

An 1880's "ditch boom" left irrigation canals fanning the valley, making it agriculturally productive. Farms, ranches, mines, and railroads soon developed peppering the valley and surrounding mountains with small communities. With the advent of small grain productionin the San Luis Valley waterfowl and crane populations increased with this readily available food supply. Declining waterfowl wintering habitat and waterfowl crop depredation prompted the Migratory Bird Conservation Commission to create the Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge in 1952. Alamosa NWR was established in 1962 to serve as another link in a chain of wetland habitat along the Central Flyway. In 1979, the two Refuges were combined administratively into the Alamosa-Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge Complex. In 2003 the Baca National Wildlife Refuge was designated to further protect the wetland and water resources of the San Luis Valley.

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