Annually, over 5000 K-12 students and their teachers from 40 different schools, as well as citizen volunteers, collect data relevant to the long-term management of bosque functioning.
Participating students have won local, state and national science fairs and competitions.
The Bosque Environmental Monitoring Program has four main educational goals:
- Involve students and citizen volunteers of all ages in the coordinated monitoring of key processes and populations of the endangered Middle Rio Grande riparian forest ecosystem;
- Enable participants to 'learn by doing' about the natural history and ecology of the bosque which lies near their communities;
- Encourage these students and volunteers to convey to their communities an appreciation of the scientific and social significance of long-term environmental research;
- Give the students and informed citizens an opportunity to become involved in the management of a critical environmental resource.