Core Research Sites

The Black Butte Mixed Grass site is located just inside the gate and to the south of Black Butte. This site is grassland, characterized by Oryzopsis hymenoides, Sporobolus giganteus, Sporobolus flexuosus, Bouteloua eriopoda, and occasional shrubs, including Gutierrezia sarothrae and Yucca glauca.  Forbs include Senecio douglasii, Baileyi multiradiata, and Sphaeralcea spp.

Bronco Well is located near the northern boundary of the Sevilleta NWR, approximately four miles west of the AT&T on the road to Red Tank.

The Cerro Montosa Pinyon-Juniper site has been the location of major Sevilleta LTER research since 1989. Meteorological trends, net primary productivity, rodent and ground-dwelling arthropod populations, mycorrhizal responses to fertilizer, pinyon-juniper fruit and nut production, and pinyon mortality are all being investigated at this site. Previous studies have included analyses of pinyon tree rings for regional climate reconstruction.

The UNM Field Station and USF&WS Headquarters are the primary support facilities for all research conducted on the Sevilleta NWR. As such the area has also been important as a research site - especially as regards meteorology and monitoring of rodent populations for Hantavirus.

The Five Points area emcompasses both the Five Points Black Grama and Five Points Creosote study sites.  Five Points falls along the transition between the Chihuahuan Desert Scrub and Desert Grassland habitats.  Both core sites are subject to intensive research activities, including NPP measurements, phenology observations, pollinator diversity studies, and ground dwelling arthropod and rodent population assessments.  There are rain-out shelters for drought studies in both the Five Points Black Grama and Five Points Creosote sites.

Ladron Foothills sites include Red Tank and Two-22 in the foothills of the Sierra Ladrones on the West side of the refuge.

Palo Duro Canyon is south of Five-Points and McKenzie Flats. Research in the area has included core vegetation line-intercept transects, re-sampling historic BLM vegetation transects, paleoecological studies of packrat middens, vegetation monitoring of the northern-most ocotillo population, and, most recently, the Very Large Moisture Array.  A posrtion of the bird community assessment project was also located here.

The Rio Grande bisects New Mexico and the Sevilleta NWR, and contains the second largest drainage basin in the southwestern US. The Middle Rio Grande riparian zone extends from Otowi Bridge near Santa Fe south through Albuquerque and the Sevilleta to elephant Butte Reservoir about 150 kilometers south of Albuquerque.  Currently there is an Evapotranspiration (ET) Flux tower installed in Salt Cedar (Tamarix chinensis ) at the San Acacia Diversion as part of Dr. Cliff Dahm's Bosque ET Monitoring project. 

The Rio Salado is an ephemeral tributary of the Rio Grande on the west side of the Sevilleta NWR, flowing west by northwest to east by southeast. Rio Salado Grassland & Rio Salado Larrea are two study sites established in 1989. These sites were established as counterparts to sites at Five Points. Between 1989 and 1998, vegetation, litter decomposition, and ground dwelling arthropod and rodent populations were studied at both sites.

South Gate is the major entry point onto the southeast side of the Sevilleta NWR. Just north of the gate is Met Station 41. Research here has included a Gunnison's prairie dog reintroduction as well as re-sampling of historic BLM 1976 vegetation transects, and juniper-creosote distribution. Vegetation is highly impacted by historical cattle grazing and is sparse. Burro grass (Scleropogon brevifolius) is dominant.