Junior Explorer

Bureau of Land Management

Dripping Springs Natural Area

Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument

Activity Book
BLM/NM/GI-05-8300
Public Lands Belong To You!

The BLM is a Federal government agency that takes care of more than 245 million 

acres of land. Most of these lands are in the western United States. These lands are 

America’s public lands, and they belong to all Americans. These public lands are 

almost equal in area to all the land in Texas and California combined.

The BLM manages public lands for many uses. The lands supply natural resources, 

such as coal, oil, natural gas, and other minerals. The lands provide habitats for 

plants and animals. People enjoy the big open spaces on the lands. The lands also 

contain evidence of our country’s past, ranging from fossils and Indian artifacts to 

ghost towns.

Illustrations for this book by Lorenzo Moreno.

Junior Explorers and the BLM

Bureau of Land Management

ATTN: Junior Explorer Program

1800 Marquess Street

Las Cruces, NM 88005

The Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Junior Explorer Program helps introduce 

young explorers like you to the lands and resources that the BLM manages. This is 

the Junior Explorer activity book for Dripping Springs Natural Area - a special area 

within the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument, located outside 

Las Cruces, New Mexico. You can work through the activities on your own or invite 

a sibling, parent, or an adult you know to join you. Complete five or more of the 

activities in this book, and show them to a BLM staff member at the Visitor Center 

or mail it to the BLM office in Las Cruces. Then, take the Junior Explorer pledge 

on the back cover and sign the certificate. You’re on your way to exploring and 

protecting America’s public lands. 

If you are mailing it, be sure to include your return address.

Mail to:
Leaping Lizards

Here are pictures of lizards you might see at Dripping Springs. Can you identify what 

kind of lizards these are? Check in the Visitor Center Kids’ Corner for a poster to help 

you identify them. 

Did you see any of them on your hike? If you did, make notes next to the picture about 

what it was doing when you saw it. *Challenge - mimic the movements of the lizards 

you saw.
the Tracks

Draw a line from the track-maker to the kind of track it makes.

Match 

Ringtail Roadrunner

Hiker

Coyote

Mountain Lion Lizard
Take a Hike

Nature Notes

In the box below, draw a plant that you see on the 

trail and is not pictured above. 

Do you know its name?

 Yucca

Prickly Pear Cactus

Sotol Fish Hook Cactus

Hike up the La Cueva Trail and look for the plants shown below. Place a check mark 

in the box next to the plant if you find it along the Trail. Also, complete the nature 

notes on how you felt and what you saw, smelled, and heard on your hike.
Color and Draw

Color in the picture and draw some of the plants you 

see along the trail.
The Hermit

3. When did he die?

4. How did his friends in Mesilla know that something was wrong?

A man who people called the Hermit 

lived and died in La Cueva. 

There is a panel with information 

about him there. Use that panel to 

answer the following questions:

1. Where was the Hermit born?

2. What was his real name?
Sounds of Nature

Sit in one place, close your eyes, and listen. 

What do you hear? Draw the different things you hear in the space below. 
What kind of wildlife did you see on the Trail?

Dripping Springs 

Trail

Hike Dripping 

Springs Trail. As 

you hike, circle the 

things you see in this 

picture. Take notes 

in the box below of 

what the wildlife was 

doing and what the 

historical buildings 

used to be.
Nature Inspires

Nature has been inspired many 

artists, writers, and photographers. 

Become inspired by this coyote 

scene and either write or tell a 

story about what is going on here.
Adaptations

Jackrabbit

Prickly Pear Cactus

Mule Deer

Ocotillo

 Western Diamondback 

Rattlesnake

Ringtail

Animals and plants have had to adapt in order to 

survive. Match the adaptation listed below with the 

plant or animal that it best fits. Write the numbers 

in the circles.

Roadrunner

1. This animal has adapted to run at high speed through the desert to remain 

camouflaged, avoid recognition from predators, and to hunt successfully.

2. This animal has excellent eyesight and hearing, which are both helpful 

adaptations for a nocturnal animal. 

3. This plant is a large shrub with long cane-like unbranched spiny stems. It is 

adapted to its environment by sheding small leaves during dry spells. It has a 

shallow but wide root system, which it uses to gather rain-water

4. This animal’s large ears help it to lose heat, thereby cooling its body temperature.

5. This plant has an advantage in the desert because it has fixed spines instead of 

leaves. The green pads produce the plant’s food, and loses less water than leaves. 

6. This larger animal has adapted to living in the desert by being active during night 

and early morning hours in warmer seasons.

7. This animal is a pit viper. This means that it has a heat sensing pit (loreal pit) 

behind each nostril that can detect differences in temperature, allowing it to detect 

prey.
The Leave No Trace Principles are seven simple guidelines to follow when visiting Dripping 

Springs Natural Area and other public lands in order to leave the area the same or better 

than when you arrived. 

*Know before you go: Be prepared with the right clothing, maps, and knowledge 

about the area.

*Choose the right path: Stay on the trail in order to not hurt nature.

*Trash your trash: Pack it in, pack it out. 

*Be careful with fire: Use existing fire rings and camp stoves, and make sure your 

fire is out cold.

*Respect wildlife: Watch animals without bothering them or their homes.

*Be kind to other visitors: Others have also come to enjoy nature, so be courteous 

and quiet.

*Leave what you find: Leave nature as you find it. Take pictures and leave only 

footprints.

Fill in the blank, or tell an adult what you can do before, during, and after your visit 

to Dripping Springs Natural Area to follow the seven Leave No Trace Principles:

Before my visit, I can....

During my visit, I am going to....

After my visit, I will...

The member-driven Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics teaches people how to enjoy the outdoors responsibly. This 

copyrighted information has been reprinted with permission from the Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics: www.LNT.org.

Leave No Trace
d Although roadrunners cannot fly for more 

than a few feet at a time, they can run up to 

speeds of 15 miles per hour.

d When diving for prey, peregrine falcons can 

reach speeds up to 200 miles per hour.

d Getting outdoors and exercising has proven 

mental and physical health benefits for both 

adults and children.

Fun Nature Facts

Did you know?

d Some biologists estimate that a mule deer’s sense of smell 

is up to 1,000 times stronger than a human.

d The Organ Mountains have over 800 species of plants and host some 80 species of 

mammals, 185 species of birds, and 60 species of reptiles and amphibians. Some of 

these plants and animals can only be found in the Organs, like the Organ Colorado 

Mountain Chipmunk, Organ Mountain Primrose, and Organ Mountain pincushion 

cactus.

d Scorpions are covered with several layers of wax so they loose water very slowly - 

making them ideal desert dwellers.

d An agave’s flowering stalk can grow nearly a foot in just a single day.

d The Organ Mountains emerged from the molten interior of the Earth in a complex 

sequence of violent eruptions, lava flows, structural warping and fracturing, and 

relentless erosion.

As a Bureau of Land Management Junior Explorer, I promise to:

 do all I can to help preserve and protect the natural and cultural resources

on our public lands;

 be aware of how my actions can affect other living things and the evidence 

of our past;

 keep learning about the importance of nature and our heritage; and

 share what I have learned with others.

 ___________________________________

Explorer’s Signature

___________________________________

BLM Staff Member’s Signature

Certificate of Achievement

_______________________

is a Bureau of Land Management 

Junior Explorer for Dripping Springs Natural Area!

Junior Explorer

Date Stamp Here