HISTORY

San Andres National Wildlife Refuge (Refuge) was established in 1941 by Executive Order 8646 for the conservation and development of natural wildlife resources. Primary emphasis over the past several years has focused on restoring a remnant population of desert bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis mexicana), a State-listed endangered species in New Mexico. Ecosystem management with a better understanding of the natural biodiversity has become a higher priority for the Refuge. Baseline inventories of various taxonomic groups of flora and fauna have been initiated to identify habitat indicators for long-term monitoring.

The Refuge is located within the boundaries of the 2.2 million acre White Sands Missile Range, a national testing range run by the Department of Defense. The Missile Range was established in 1952. The Refuge is also bordered by the United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service-Jornada Experimental Range established in 1912.

The history of San Andres Mountain is rich with legends of lost gold mines and outlaws. The area was occupied as early as 900 A.D. by ancestors of the North American Indians. Remnants of rock houses and mines throughout the range are evidence of heavy mining activity in the area during the late 1800's and early 1900's. San Andres Mountains are reported to have been the stomping grounds of Black Jack Ketchem and the Apache Chief Geronimo. Apache Chief Victorio also frequented the San Andres Mountains with his warriors, and fought several skirmishes with the United States Cavalry.

Memorandum for the files April 20, 1944.       Historical Notes October, 1968

A History of Land Use August 15, 1944.

Open the links below for historical correspondence from the Refuge's files. These files are in .pdf format and require your computer to have a version of Adobe Reader to view them. This free software can be acquired from www.adobe.com.