August 15, 2022 – ABQ BioPark is growing its relationship with the Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge to help curb the growth of a problem tree species while also feeding the zoo’s giraffes.
Valle de Oro is donating tree limbs from the invasive Siberian elm as “browsing” – or food – for ABQ BioPark’s giraffe herd. This is an extension of an existing partnership between the BioPark and Valle de Oro that previously provided browsing for the elephant herd.
Valle de Oro, located in Albuquerque’s South Valley, aims to promote native habitat, according to Kaitlin Murphy, the Ancestral Lands Corps (ALCC) individual placement biological technician at the refuge. Siberian elms are “undesirable” there, she says. “It’s not native to this region, so we’re just trying to phase it out.”
The partnership was established when Lisa Moore, ABQ BioPark’s senior hoofkeeper, visited Valle de Oro on a birding tour in April. She noticed some elms during the tour and reached out to Valle de Oro staff about a possible partnership.
“I think it’s a great way for BioPark to connect with our community and a local organization like the shelter,” Moore said. “I’m a big advocate for getting our community involved, and I thought this was a good way to start.”
Charisa Bell, biological science technician at Valle de Oro, said the project is a good fit because the shelter aims to collaborate as much as possible with the local community.
“We try to do our best to provide things to the community before we throw things away, so it was nice to be able to say, ‘Oh, there are giraffes that need el and we don’t for them,” she. said. “We also have the program where we chip some of our elms and then provide mulch to the South Valley community just for free through a permit. (It’s) another opportunity for us to provide our community and that’s one of our main goals at the shelter.”
Several Valle de Oro staff and members of the Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) visited the zoo on July 26 to meet the giraffe herd as a thank you for the sanctuary’s cooperation. Dakota Dominguez, Valle de Oro youth employment coordinator, said the visit was a great way for youth in the program to explore different programs and employment opportunities.
“I thought this was a great opportunity, so now they can come here, and we’ve already met two people who work here at BioPark who had experience at YCC before,” he said. “So this is another way for these guys to just explore careers and see different community connections and opportunities.”
In addition to Valle de Oro, BioPark also joins several other local groups to provide research for the giraffe herd. This includes the Rio Grande Nature Center and a local tree farm. In addition, the elephant team has partnered with the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy and PNM.
“Our giraffe head goes through so many elves that we’ve found a few places we can go to cut, but we’ve depleted it,” Moore said. “So to allow that to recharge, it was great to find Valle de Oro and find out that they need their resources to be used in a different way. We hope to maintain this partnership so that it helps ancestral lands and helps our giraffe herd.”
