Mesa Trail #13 2026

NMVFO volunteers worked on the Mesa Trail in the Magdalenas, a double-loop trail, with a trailhead on Water Canyon Road. Our mission was sawing, lopping, and signage.

I was with the Lopping Crew, and we stayed on the lower loop, about 6 miles total, with most work on a thick growth of oak on the first ridge.

Horse riders passed us on our lunch break. I do not recall meeting any horses on Magdalena trails before.

After the project, several of us retreated to Box Canyon Brewery, which happened to be during their Grand Reopening.

We hope to return in the Fall, where we may be allowed to work on tread, after an archaeology survey is complete.

Upper Trigo 2026

12 NMVFO volunteers worked on Upper Trigo trail in the Manzanos. Most camped out the night before at New Canyon Campground. (We camped here because the road on the west side of the Manzanos up to Trigo Trailhead and the former John F Kennedy Campground is always in bad condition. It is easier to climb up over the crest and back down from the east side.)

We divided into two teams, one sawyer crew and one lopping and installing a sign at the crest. The hole for the sign was dug with a rock bar, and a tuna can was just the right size to scoop out dirt and pulverized rock.

The lopping crew attacked locust and gambel oak. Locust was especially bad near the tree line. The thorny locust is opportunistic and quickly establishes itself after a burn, in this case the 2008 Trigo Fire.

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Valle de Oro 2026

NMVFO volunteers return to the Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge in Albuquerque.

Our mission is to clean weeds in and around a pond at the visitor center.

Spring winds blow tumbleweed and kochia into the pond, and need to be fished out. Bindweed, nettles, and other invasives around the perimeter must be dug out. Cattails require thinning.

Muck boots and waders allow some volunteers to go into the pond to remove weeds.

Tumbleweed and kochia are gathered into carts, compressed down with a tamper, and hauled to an area to be spread into rows, later to be mulched by a mower.

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