by Rick LoBello, Education and Conservation Curator

This month the El Paso Zoo and Botanical Gardens will be hosting a number of meetings including a public meeting on the grassroots effort to designate Big Bend National Park as a Wilderness Area on Tuesday, November 14 and the Chihuahuan Desert Conference on November 15-16.

The other day when I was going through some video footage of El Paso conservation events over the years, I came across a video clip of someone that many here in El Paso miss dearly, Judy Ackerman. I wrote a tribute to her earlier this year, but when I found the video I just uploaded to YouTube, I thought it was too precious not to share with our community and her family and friends. Some of the video footage I found of Judy will also be included in special exhibit on her most important conservation achievement in helping to establish Castner Range National Monument, opening at the El Paso Museum of Archaeology on December 9.

On the video clip that follows you will see Judy at her best talking about conservation of the Franklin Mountains and Rio Bosque Wetlands Park at a Chihuahuan Desert Fiesta event at Tom Mays Park.

The Oxford Dictionary defines the word “conservation” as a noun meaning – prevention of wasteful use of a resource. Many people in El Paso might agree that any definition of conservation in El Paso should also include two action words – Judy Ackerman.

Cover image of the Castner Range – Mark C Clune