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LAS CRUCES 鈥� The nonprofit Asombro Institute for Science Education refers to the Chihuahuan Desert Nature Park as a vast outdoor classroom. But it is more than that. 

Just a few miles from the nearest paved road, the park is a place of retreat from the city, a swath of desert landscape flanked by mountains with well-kept, easy trails that feature stops for rest and shade, and a 150-seat outdoor theater that has welcomed performances and weddings. There are shaded picnic tables and a xeriscape memorial garden. Signposts along the trails offer educational exhibits about the desert鈥檚 soils, plants and wildlife. 

鈥淚t can feel like it鈥檚 out in the middle of nowhere, but really it鈥檚 not very far,鈥� Stephanie Bestelmeyer, Asombro鈥檚 director, said.

On the other hand, she added: 鈥淲e don鈥檛 have some of the amenities of a state park, for example. We don鈥檛 have people out there full-time. We have great hiking trails, great picnic areas, interpretative signs, things like that. But if people are looking for a visitor center or flushing toilets, sorry, we don鈥檛 have that.鈥� 

Located in a remote area on the north side of town, the 935-acre nature park originated as the Las Cruces Nature Park, first proposed as a regional attraction and educational resource in 1978 by Ron Hudson, then a city councilor. The nonprofit was founded in 1990 and the site selected several years later, on land where the Jornada Experimental Range had already been hosting field trips. 

Bestelmeyer, a biologist and science educator hired by Asombro in 2000, has led the park to be a resource for scientific research, working with the USDA, New Mexico State University and other institutions, as well as K-12 science education. The neighboring Jornada Experimental Range, a 300-square-mile research area owned by the USDA鈥檚 Agricultural Research Service, is a regular collaborator on field trips. 

Asombro (鈥渁we鈥� in Spanish) conducts most of its education programming at school sites, while using the park for student field trips and public programs, including collaborations in the sciences and visual arts. Bestelmeyer said 2,000 children visit the park annually through Asombro programs while its visiting lab classes at regional schools reach 20,000. Visitors to the nature park outside of the programs are not currently tracked. 

鈥淭he desert isn鈥檛 at all a wasteland,鈥� Bestelmeyer said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 this active, really fascinating place and people are coming from all over the world to learn more about it.鈥�

The institute recently won a grant from New Mexico鈥檚 Outdoor Recreation Division to fund a second, 80-seat outdoor theater, this one offering an ADA-compliant, accessible space adjacent to the parking area, as a way to expand its events and welcome more of the community. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 open six days a week, so people go out and enjoy it almost as much during the weekdays as weekends,鈥� Bestelmeyer said. 鈥淛ust from our visitor sign-in book, we see we get lots of visitors from all over the country, especially in the winter. I think we have a lot of snowbirds who see the highway signs and say, 鈥極h, let鈥檚 go check out this nature park.鈥� A lot of people will just be looking for things to do in Las Cruces.鈥�

A few mosaics, murals and mixed-material sculptures are permanently installed in the park, and Asombro recently hosted an 鈥淎rt in the Park鈥� event with stations letting participants work with watercolors and clay. 

The trail system consists of five connected trails. The longest of these, the 1.2-mile Desert Discovery Trail, negotiates Vista Hill with some of the park鈥檚 more challenging terrain. Other, shorter trails offer much easier passage, with trail maps available on paper, online and on signage. 

鈥淭he park is owned and operated by our relatively small nonprofit that has seven people,鈥� Bestelmeyer said. 鈥淲e have one part-time nature park manager, and everything else that鈥檚 been done out there has been kind of a labor of love from a lot of really dedicated volunteers who just love the desert, love education and want to have a great place for people to go and enjoy the beauty 鈥� but also intentionally learn about some of the great science that鈥檚 happening.鈥�

Algernon 顿鈥橝尘尘补蝉蝉补 is the Journal鈥檚 southern New Mexico correspondent. He can be reached at adammassa@abqjournal.com.