Sangre de Cristo Audubon SocietySanta Fe & Northern New Mexico
We are a recognized chapter of the National Audubon Society. Our membership region covers most of north-central New Mexico from roughly Placitas north to Raton and Taos. We take our name from the Sangre de Cristo mountain range which extends from Colorado to just south of Santa Fe.
The Sangres form the western horizon for the eastern portion of our area and form the eastern horizon of the Rio Grande Valley in the central portion of the area.
Mission
The mission of the Sangre de Cristo Audubon Society is to conserve and restore natural ecosystems, focusing on birds, other wildlife, and their habitats for the benefit of humanity and the Earth’s biological diversity.
Education
Sangre de Cristo Audubon Society has focused its efforts on educational offerings for adults and conservation activities. We are cognizant of the need for nature education opportunities for children, particularly in the underserved areas of Santa Fe and surrounding communities. The Randal Davey Audubon Center and Sanctuary of the National Audubon Society does provide these opportunities—though the need is always greater than the supply—and we have chosen to financially support the efforts of the Davey Center in this work, particularly with some of the local Pueblos.
Our educational offerings for adults have three major thrusts: the Mountain Chickadee quarterly newsletter, evening programs on conservation and nature appreciation topics, and the field trip program. Each Spring, we publish an annual brochure that lays out the field trip program for the year so that members and visitors can plan on our volunteer-led trips. These activities are reinforced through our web site which features a direct link to subscribe to the electronic Mountain Chickadee and the field trip brochure as well as timely announcements of our evening programs and field trips.
Our conservation work covers a broad range of activities, from citizen-science efforts through our field trips and bird counts to direct advocacy work for birds and the natural world. We are engaged in the development of Forest Plans on both the Santa Fe and Carson National Forests and in the planning for the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument. We took direct action in 2014 in an appeal of a poorly planned commercial mountain bike race in the Rio Grande del Norte National Monumemnt suggesting that the races be held without amplified music and during seasons of the year when they will be less likely to impact nesting birds. That appeal is pending.
We were supporters of both the acquisition of the Valles Caldera National Preserve by the government and the transfer of the management of the property to the National Park Service—which finally came to pass on October 1, 2015. We continue a project to try to attract Rosy Finches to the Santa Fe Ski Basin in collaboration with the personnel at Ski Santa Fe and Wild Birds Unlimited. We are actively looking for someone to take leadership responsibility for a “Cats Indoors” program. We continue to monitor the great public lands in our communities and speak up for the scientific management of those lands for the benefit of the wildlife therein.
