In July, the New Mexico Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program (Program) funded habitat restoration work on private lands in Sandoval County, to provide pollinator habitat and nesting sites for native bees.  This project will also become an outdoor classroom available for use by the Albuquerque Public School system, and private schools and institutions.  Bee specimens will be collected and identified by the University of New Mexico, and donated to the Museum of Southwest Biology for use by students and professors, as well as the general public.   

The Program also funded a project to improve 0.60 mile of riparian habitat and enhance 16 acres of upland buffer in Santa Fe County.  Non-native invasive vegetation will be removed and native riparian vegetation replanted.  In-stream habitat, including an existing degraded wetland, will be restored through another funding source. 

The Partners Program also funded in July, a project to enhance 0.36 miles (25 acres) of riparian habitat in Socorro County, within the historic floodplain of the Rio Grande.  The project includes removal of non-native invasive vegetation, planting native riparian vegetation, completing fencing to exclude livestock grazing, and installation of bat houses.