Chihuahuan Desert National Park

Chihuahuan Desert Research Projects

admin — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 00:00:00 +0000

The Chihuahuan Desert is an area that has been preserved allowing researchers to study the geologic history and life that has managed to survive naturally in the region. The region is massive and is larger than the state of California. It encompasses parts of northern Mexico, New Mexico and the southern area of Texas.

The Chihuahuan Desert is included in the biosphere program, which was created in the late 1960s. Concerned scientists from all over the world decided to protect certain habitats in their natural form. Research is accomplished with field work in the desert and scientists are able to understand and protect the plant and animal life that is sustained by the desert.

With the preservation efforts specialists are able to use what they have learned to help future generations keep the world’s natural resources intact. Visitors to the desert can enjoy the scenery with an energetic hike and a stop at the nature center will offer an educational experience for travelers.

Some experts believe that the Chihuahuan Desert is the most biologically varied desert throughout the world. This is still the case even though several native plant species have been outgrown by Creosote Bush and grazing has reduced the overall natural plant life.

The Chihuahuan Desert Nature Center

admin — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 00:00:00 +0000

The Chihuahuan Desert Nature Center was established in 1978 by the Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute, a nonprofit organization. It is located at the foot of the Davis Mountains, near Fort Davis, TX. The center’s purpose is to educate their visitors about the diversity of the Chihuahuan Desert and allow them to experience nature in its serenity.

The Chihuahuan Desert Nature Center offers educational opportunities for both children and adults throughout the year. It boasts a twenty acre botanical gardens that showcases 165 species of trees and plants native to the area. The garden is arranged into four different groups: The Arboretum, The Wildscape Garden, The Pollinator Garden and The Cactus and Succulent Collection. The garden is a great place to interact with nature by seeing birds, bees and lizards up close in their environment. There are also exhibits to visit that educate visitors about the history of the desert. There are artifacts from the mining industry as well as rock and mineral samples.

The Center also offers 3 miles of rocky hiking trails. There is a trail map available in the gift shop to serve as a guide. The trails offer spectacular springs and pools, majestic trees, and breathtaking scenery.

What’s the Desert Like at Night?

admin — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 00:00:00 +0000

We’ve all at least seen a movie or a picture of a desert that has given us a great idea of what a desert looks like, but not all of us have actually experienced a desert. The desert can be a dangerous place, but it is a truly stunning place as well. With the right know-how and proper equipment and clothing, one could spend a night or two in the desert.

One well known characteristic of a desert is its extreme temperatures. When most people think of extreme desert temperatures, they think of intolerable heart. That is true, but what most people don’t understand is that desert nights can be quite chilly. An extreme rise and fall of temperatures can happen in a desert. The daytime temperatures can reach upwards of 100 degrees and beyond, but the temperatures can also fall drastically during the night to freezing temps.

The reason for this drastic change in a desert’s ecosystem is the lack of any biological protection to keep the sun from heating up the landscape, or to keep heat trapped once the sun goes down.

In order to survive a night in the desert, bring many layers of clothes and an appropriately rated sleeping bag.

Stranded in the Desert Tips

www.cdnp.org — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Most visitors to the Chihuahua Desert will enjoy their journey problem free, whether the region serves as your final destination or just an avenue to further travels. Still, just in case, if you find yourself broken down on the side of the road with absolutely no, much less a clear wireless internet service signal or cell phone service signal in the vicinity, it’s best not to panic.If you are stuck in a visible roadside area, do not leave your vehicle unattended Your vehicle will not only provide some shelter from the elements (particularly if heating and cooling is still working), staying put will ultimately reward you for your patience. It may seem as if traffic is sparse at times but a passerby is more likely to stop for assistance in the event a car is present as opposed to just a street-sidling wanderer. If for no other reason, you are more likely to be seen standing next to a sizeable automobile than on foot. It will also provide additional security for any personal possessions or valuable items inside your car which you are unable to take with you.If you do opt to leave your car, whether for safety concerns or as means of seeking help, at least leave a note This will help any emergency help to locate you if need be, not to mention help alleviate the fears of any parties you may be traveling with. With no contact to the surrounding world at this point, aside from your physical person, it’s important to do everything in your power to leave a trail, however, leaving a trail of food or trash items you might have on hand for your trip could help to attract unwanted animal visitors.If you are reading this, it’s obviously not too late to plan ahead Even if just driving through the desert, be sure to pack fundamental survival items (i.e. water), and make sure your car is in suitable condition for a potentially lengthy road trip. This would include finally getting around to the oil change, new tires or service work you might have neglected in recent months

Chihuahuan Desert Heats Up the Big Screen

www.cdnp.org — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Of the many lines the recent Hollywood blockbuster Due Date left etched in the minds of audiences, granted some against one’s will, perhaps none was more perfectly delivered than the dialogue that ensued as Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifinakis’ Los Angeles-bound car slowed to a roll in traffic-”This looks like a border crossing, it says Mexico”-”I thought it said Texaco, we’re low on gas.”Set against the backdrop of the Chihuahuan Desert, this was only one of many scenes filmed in the area, taking advantage of one of the most desolate locales in the United States to provide a scenic and appropriate setting to convey the sense of desperation and lengths an expecting new father will travel in order to be present for the birth of his child. Shutting down a stretch of highway 70, in the Las Cruces, New Mexico, region, filmmakers took advantage not only of a unique natural blessing but of tax cuts for filming in the state of New Mexico, designed to bring more business in from would-be Hollywood sets. As a result, the Chihuahuan Desert has raised its profile by association, an increasingly popular locale for any movie calling for heat-stricken or sandy stage (of which there are many).The city of Las Cruces itself, well within the borders of the Chihuahuan desert, also served as one of primary filming spots for some of the movie’s in-town scenes, along with Atlanta, Albuquerque, Lawrenceville, GA, Los Angeles, Rancho Cucamonga,CA, and Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

Roswell, NM: A Town of Unknown Population

admin — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 19:02:38 +0000

Settled in the heart of the Chihuahuan Desert’s northwestern region lies a sleepy town turned military base with one of the most unique pop culture profiles of any community its size. Roswell, New Mexico is known the world over not because of the particular achievements of any of its 45,000 known residents, but rather a few speculated residents who may or may not have crash landed one night in 1947, only to be swept under the rug and denied by United States government’s controlling interests. Actually the closest population cluster to the reported crash site was Corona, New Mexico, though the Roswell Army Air Field handled the local investigation of the debris, thus forever linking the town of Roswell with the mysterious occurrence. The Roswell UFO Incident is a subject of distrust and rampant speculation by citizens towards the deceitful intentions and questionable transparency of the federal government. Though such a lack of faith may have been out of character in 1947, when the UFOs allegedly touched down, by the time books on the subject first appeared on shelves in 1980, Vietnam, Watergate, and a host of other issues had already disillusioned many Americans with regards to the top to bottom trustworthiness of government controlled entities.Officially, the US government purports the mysterious debris and any strange object that so-called witnesses may have seen was the result of an experimental high altitude surveillance balloon, property of a secret program dubbed “Mogul,” though skepticism remains high among those who are either keenly perceptive or have leafed through one too many science fiction novels. The military cover-up is rumored to have hidden not only the crashed alien craft from the curious eyes of the public, but also alien bodies, some of which may have even been alive at the time of their discovery. With major discrepancies between popularly held beliefs and flaws in the contentions of both witnesses and government officials, perhaps the only thing that remains certain is that very few people, if any, will ever know exactly what happened on that dark desert night in July of 1947.

Chihuahua Desert’s Animal Friends

admin — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 18:58:00 +0000

While we as humans might struggle to survive the intense desert conditions for long without the proper supplies and outside nourishment, many of earth’s creatures feel right at home in the Chihuahuan Desert‘s heat-heavy, water-deprived climate. Playing home to even some larger animals, perhaps the deserts most iconic dweller is the bighorn sheep, easily distinguished by its, you guessed it, big horns. The bighorn sheep population is very fickle, easily changing depending on the overall health and well-being of the desert itself. Thankfully, the Chihuahuan Desert’s relatively large population of bighorn sheep speaks to the desert’s continued favorable conditions and good fortune. Feasting on the juicy insides of cacti, found in particular abundance at lower elevations, the large sheep use their hooves and horns to rid the cacti of its prickly thorns, then enjoy the fruits of their labor. The pronghorn antelopes also find a naturally bountiful selection of food in the desert. With a diet consisting mostly of herbaceous flowering plants (i.e. clover, sunflower, milkweed), shrubs and grasses, pronghorns find plenty of nourishment even in the seemingly sparse offerings afforded by climates like the Chihuahuan Desert.Like in any ecosystem, while some animals feed off of the areas vegetation, other animals, in turn, feed off their plant-grazing counterparts. Mountain lions, coyotes, wolves and even bears to a lesser extent all make the Chihuahuan Desert a less than perfect place to call home. Of course, when you think of coyotes in the desert, a roadrunner can’t be far behind (or ahead in pretty much every cartoon episode). Unlike its fellow feathered desert companion the small elf owl, the roadrunner prefers running to flying, rarely leaving their feet by a few feet and only for a short period of time. The roadrunner might be an easier target for predators could it run as fast as 15 miles per hour, proving elusive as prey but also adept as hunters, striking fear into the hearts of lizards and other would-be bird food across the sands.

Albuquerque’s Desert Climate Leaves it Far From Deserted

admin — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 18:49:16 +0000

While deserts are generally thought to be sparsely populated regions in which even vegetation can scarcely afford to make a home, Albuquerque, New Mexico proves that a vibrant city can indeed succeed amid largely arid surroundings. The largest city in the state of New Mexico, Albuquerque boasts a population of over half a million. Though smaller than the Chihuahuan Desert’s largest collection of people (that title belongs to Ciudad Juarez, Mexico), Albuquerque enjoys the size of a major city without the widespread violence and major corruption issues that plague its more sizeable contemporary to the southeast. The city of Albuquerque is still growing as well, with almost half of New Mexico’s residents already calling Albuquerque home.The desert locale allows inhabitant to enjoy almost constant sunshine, a dry air and warm temperatures, with modern technology taking care of many would-be irrigation and water supply issues that would have made such large populations in similar locations nearly impossible in eras of old. The city enjoys an estimated 300 sunny days a year, well above what one would find in almost any other metro area, though the temperature can vary greatly from daylight hours into the night. In the summertime, highs typically hover from the upper 80′s well into the 90′s with overnight lows dropping to the 60′s and 70′s. The winter months see even more deviation, averaging daytime highs in the 40 to 50 range, compared to 20 to 30 degree nighttime temperatures. Still, Albuquerque enjoys 4 distinct seasons, without often reaching the exorbitantly hot and humid hundred degree heat indexes or bitingly frigid, single digit temperatures that are common in many climates throughout the country.Not only is the city very climatically friendly, it is very well cultured as well, enjoying over 300 organizations, associations and locations dedicated to the arts, including visual, film, literary, dance, music, ethnic and many more. It is also the home of the University of New Mexico, the state’s flagship institution for higher education.

Danger Guillermo Robinson: Ciudad Juarez

admin — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 18:46:33 +0000

Juarez, or Ciudad Juarez as it’s referred to locally, is the largest metropolitan area in the Chihuahuan Desert region. As a border town, Juarez has played a unique roll both in the cultural development of Mexico and that of the United States, forging a nature of interdependence both for prosperity and its dark underbelly. Formerly known “El Paso del Norte,” the name describes exactly the role Juarez played in the two nation’s history, loosely meaning “the way to the North (America).” Just across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas, the highly traffic bridges stretching from the Lone Star State to Mexico are crossed close to 23 million times per year. While the close proximity to the United States has helped to develop Juarez economically, for example, maquiladoras, or major factories employing predominantly female workers, provide hundreds of thousands of jobs to the city, relying on the ease of transportation from just across the border and the lower Mexican working wages, in recent years Juarez’s economic dependence has turned violent.Though thousands of legitimate products are annually produced in Juarez and or traded between Juarez and nearby US Cities, the most profitable products changing hands from Juarenses to the United States are illegal drugs. Juarez proximity presents some of the most valuable drug turf in the world for drug cartels, and in recent years, turf wars have led to widespread violence through the city. With well over 2,000 homicides in the year 2009, Juarez is the most dangerous city in world, with no war conflict on which to blame the massive loss of life. Furthermore, with the economic crisis in full force, fewer and fewer teens and young adults are finding work, instead turning to easy drug money on the streets, accentuating the already exacerbated drug problem that has taken over the region. Without major reform and outside help, Juarez’s outlook looks bleak for the foreseeable future. Once a profitable partner an arm’s length away, the city now looms across the river as a cautionary tale in need of assistance.

About the Chihuahuan Desert

admin — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 18:42:18 +0000

Spanning close to 140,000 square miles (larger by some interpretations), the Chihuahuan Desert is the second largest desert in North America behind only the Great Basin Desert, starting at its northernmost point in Arizona and continuing downward, well into Mexico. Sitting between 3,500 and 5,000 feet of elevation at most points in its terrain, the desert descends to as low as 1,000 feet in certain areas, causing slight variation in temperatures depending on where in the massive arid region. Behause of its higher altitudes, it is noted as a “high-elevation” desert. Generally, the Chihuahuan Desert features cool winters to offset devastatingly hot summers, though no season makes up for the prevailing lack of rain. Summers are rainiest, though it’s all relative when talking about so little precipitation. Rainfall in the Chihuahuan Desert is atypical of that of most deserts, which commonly experience their rainy season in the winter, as 90 of the desert’s rain falls between July and October by means of afternoon thunderstorms. Throughout the course of the average calendar year, the Chihuahuan Desert receives less than 10 inches of rainfall.Plant life manages to survive in the Chihuahuan Desert despite the dearth of water, predominantly evergreen and deciduous shrubs that characterize the landscape. Shrubs, cacti and grass found in the lower elevation areas, typically receiving less rainfall than higher altitude counterparts, are commonly referred to as Chihuahuan Desert scrub. The scrub is often dominated by cresosote bush, an evergreen shrub standing between 1-3 meters tall. The plant’s flowers usually contain 5 yellow petals, approximately 25 millimieters in diameter. Mid-level elevations feature more rolling grasslands and hills. At its highest elevation points, one might even find coniferous forests in the Chihuahuan Desert valley region. Local species include the Ponderosa Pine, Douglas Fir, Juniper (both weeping and alligator), Arizona Cypress and a varying selection of oaks. The unique play floral community of the Chihuahuan Desert makes it one of the most diverse major arid regions on the planet.