WATCHING THE BIRDS IN COMFORT
Visitor center at Valle de Oro wildlife refuge will include a terrace overlooking constructed wetlands.
The new visitor center planned for the Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge just south of Albuquerque will feature not only the usual exhibit hall and nature store, but also an expansive terrace overlooking a constructed wetland and a multipurpose room that managers hope will become a community hub.
“We want people to feel welcome, and we want this to be a community gathering space,” refuge Manager Jennifer Owen-White said.
The visitor center design represents the culmination of several years of workshops, surveys and design charettes to gather ideas about how people use the refuge and what they want there.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which oversees Valle de Oro, awarded a $6.5 million design-build contract to a consortium of companies led by CF PadillaBrycon. CF Padilla is a small, Native Americanowned construction company based at Isleta Pueblo, essentially a neighbor to the refuge.
“They check all the boxes for us,” Owen-White said, adding that it was nice to hire a small, local, minority-owned firm. “They understand what a national wildlife refuge is, what an urban refuge is,” she said.
Jennifer Padilla, assistant project manager for the visitor center, said that as Native Americans, she and her brother, Clay, who owns the firm, have a sense of obligation to Mother Nature.
CF Padilla won the contract as part of a joint venture with Brycon, a larger, more experienced New Mexico company that is mentoring the Isleta firm, which until now has specialized in building water and sewer systems.
“It’s really neat for us,” Jennifer Padilla said. “This is our first design-build federal project.”
The visitor center will include a classroom sitting above the wetland, giving students the opportunity to see wildlife up close and learn about water quality. Already, more than 21,000 school children have visited the refuge, Owen-White said.
Also planned are an amphitheater and a Center for Conservation Careers where partner organizations such as the Rocky Mountain Youth Corps will have space and staff to talk to youth about opportunities.
The visitor center will be built to earn LEED silver or higher certification with environmentally friendly features and bird-friendly glass to prevent birds from flying into the large windows, as well as plenty of shaded space outdoors.
Surroundings, a Santa Fe landscape architecture studio, is designing the exterior spaces, including a “parking grove” filled with shade trees nourished in part by stormwater runoff channeled by swales.