Saturday, March 22, 2008

Turtles, tortoises and trees will make home near pond at Whitfield

Sandy Battin News-Bulletin Staff Writer; sbattin@news-bulletin.com

The Whitfield Wildlife Conservation Area is a work in progress.

Last Saturday, a band of volunteers — ranging from members of the Valencia County Xeriscape Club to a pack of Cub Scouts — planted 565 cottonwood, screwbean mesquites and New Mexico olive trees. And a pond has been created that will soon be home turf to a troupe of tortoises, turtles and trout.

Someday soon, a visitors center will be built, offering schoolchildren and anyone interested in nature insight into the flora and fauna that will frequent these fields.

The 97 acres situated along the bosque on N.M. 47 just north of the Rio Grande bridge in Belen is aflutter with tiny flags that show the types of young trees that have been planted there.

A stiff March wind was making rippled patterns on the new pond, which will become home to wildlife of all sorts. And a group of volunteers was taking a well-deserved lunch break and chatting about the exciting plans to come — and all the work that's been done already.

Charlie Sanchez of the Valencia County Soil and Water Conservation District has been busy digging holes down through the soil to the water table in which to plan the newest trees.

Sandi Jackson of Albuquerque, president of the Rio Grande Tortoise and Turtle Club, hangs on to her shovel as she animatedly talks about plans for the area. "We're trying to educate the public on the proper husbanding of tortoises and turtles," she said. "People don't properly care for them and dump them when they can't take care of them. Then they get run over by cars and chewed on by dogs."

The organization rehabilitates such "special needs" turtles and tortoises and then returns them to the wild.

Some turtles have been rescued even when part of their shells are missing.

Jackson said that, although many people don't realize it, both turtles and tortoises are native to New Mexico. Even the snapping turtle can live here.

Turtles need to live in or near water. "They eat, hibernate and breed in the water and lay eggs on the land," she said.

Tortoises are land animals and most are strictly herbivorous. "They have stocky elephant-like legs, long fingernails, and they don't have webbed feet," Jackson said.

She said she will bring some of the group's aquatic experts to the pond to begin the process of preparing it for the shelled reptiles.

Joseph Moya of the conservation district said while working on the pond he's thought of little kids fishing in it and waterfowl arriving during their migratory seasons.

"The contractor left those little islands and we put in that tree" for habitat, he said.

Chuck Brandt of Rio Communities, a member of the Valencia County Xeriscape Club, said the group began participating in the planting about a year ago. "You see all the building taking place in our county, and our wildlife species are in decline. One of the reasons is a loss of habitat," he said. "This gives us a change to bring a little balance to it."

The club has suggested native plants that would attract hummingbirds be grown around the visitors center so that people can see them.

"This is a real worthwhile project. It's good to take part in it," Brandt said.

"It's a great work in progress and will be of benefit to the community and school kids."

He pointed out that Sanchez alone has listed 57 species of birds seen on the land, along with 12 kinds of mammals.

Brandt said he thinks, as the trees and other plants grow, other species of birds will find it and thrive. "There's going to be a cottonwood overstory, and willows and other brush will be planted for an understory," he said.

Gerard Bezzeg of Tomé and his grandson, Justin Gurule, 15, of Belen, were taking a breather after planting trees all morning. "Me and him, we talked about everything," Bezzeg said.

Their subjects ranged from the trees they were planting to history to why Americans don't teach languages in their schools as the Europeans do.

Their family has a history of planting things — Bezzeg's wife's parents built and maintained the Green Thumb Gardens in Tomé, and Justin helped him build their own little greenhouse when he was a child.

Will Fetner of Albuquerque, who works for the New Mexico office of the National Resources Trustee, said he came down for a hands-on view of the project and its progress.

A few steps away, Bethel Little of the xeriscape club was also taking a break. "My back's fine, but my feet hurt," she said.

She has planted a fair number of trees that morning, and her friends, Carol Montoya and Nancy Erickson, have provided lunch for the volunteers. They can imagine what the place will be like in 10 or 20 years.

"Hopefully, it will be teeming with wildlife," Erickson said.

"If two-thirds of the stuff we've planted makes it, it will look great," Little said.

Erickson says the soil and water conservation has provided cottonwood pole plants, cuttings that can be placed into the water table and will take root. "Bosque del Apache has used them for 20 years, and they have been very successful," she said.

Little noted that all the plants are native. "It does pay to go with the native plants instead of something that doesn't grow," she said.

John Kirkpatrick, the architect who's designed the project, said that a Friends of Whitfield group will be started later this year to assist in planting and other work, including raising funds for the site. Docents will be recruited to help explain what's happening environmentally. The educational aspect will be presided over by longtime teacher Molly Madden.

"This is for our kids, not city kids, but Valencia County kids. They'll have a lot of opportunity to learn here," Kirkpatrick said. "These 100 acres are for us."

The legislature recently appropriated $800,000 for the first phase of the visitors center, with a classroom and lobby. A second phase includes a working lab.

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