Bosque Ecosystem Monitoring Program

The Bosque Ecosystem Monitoring Program’s mission is: Community Science, Education, and Stewardship: Equitable and inclusive hands-on student research essential to the management of the Rio Grande ecosystem. The Bosque Ecosystem Monitoring Program (BEMP) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation registered in the state of New Mexico that partners with the University of New Mexico (UNM) Department of Biology. Each year, K-12 students and teachers from 30-50 schools in New Mexico participate in long-term bosque research at 33 different monitoring sites. Findings are used by government agencies to manage and make informed decisions about the bosque. As of June 15th, 2023, 4,261 students and 807 adults throughout Bernalillo and Sandoval counties connected with their local ecosystem through direct, hands-on, outdoor participation in BEMP activities throughout the 2022-2023 school year through in-person trips to the bosque. An additional 4,462 students accessed online, self-directed, printable and virtual activities to engage with the ecosystems in their own neighborhoods, communities and backyards; this is a 92% increase from the year previous! Over thirty-three schools were served through this array of programming, 57% qualifying as Title I. BEMP education continues its commitment to better support the diverse needs of New Mexico’s students, teachers and families by offering a multi-level educational pathway to engage with BEMP programming. Several top accomplishments over the last several years: – Began initiative to reach every 7th Grader in the City with priority given to students from backgrounds underrepresented in the sciences due to racial, cultural, and economic inequities and those represented in Title-1 schools. – 120,000+ students in New Mexico participated in our applied science programming – see our 100,000 milestone celebration: https://bemp.org/bemp-celebrates-its-100000-bemper/ – Collaborating with long-standing community partners, BEMP completed 24 years of continuous collection of millions of data points measuring ecosystem health along the Middle Rio Grande – Inclusively accommodated and engaged diverse K-12 student populations in scientific inquiry – 65% of students from Title I (low-income) schools