Bosque del Apache Wilderness The view from the summit of
Chupadera Mountain The 57,191-acre Bosque del Apache National
Wildlife Refuge was established in 1939 to try to help protect
the last 17 living sandhill cranes. The sandhill crane
population is now at 17,000 and rising. In 1975, Congress
designated the Bosque del Apache Wilderness on 30,287 acres of
the Wildlife Refuge. The Wilderness is broken into the Chupadera
Unit (5,289 acres west of the I-25), the Indian Well Unit (5,139
acres just across the Interstate from the Chupadera Unit), and
the Little San Pascual Unit (19,859 acres just east of the Rio
Grande). The Chupadera Unit is mostly a series of small mesas
and ridges divided by dry arroyos. The Indian Well Unit has
mesas and arroyos on its eastern side with rounded mountains on
its western edge. The Little San Pascual is rolling desert
terrain with sharp high points at San Pascualito Mountain and at
Little San Pascual Mountain. In 2009, the 140 acres that include
Chupadera Mountain were donated to