Abou t a third of them go on to postgraduate work. The Bosque del Apache, a 57,000-acre refuge along the Rio Grande 25 miles south of Socorro attracts thousands of sandhill cranes and snow geese and nearly as many birdwatchers. The Festival of the Cranes has been held each November since 1987. Other festivals that attract visitors are the Socorro Balloon Rally in December and the Fat Tire Fiesta, a rally for mountain bike enthusiasts, in September. New Mexico Tech hosts the New Mexico Mineral Symposium every November, an event that brings hundreds professional and amateur rock buffs to the area.
Some visitors come for a more serious purpose.
The New Mexico Fire Academy trains all of the state's firefighters. The Academy offers more than 30 courses, from basic structural and wildland firefighting to specialized classes in arson detection and flammable liquid emergencies. About 2,000 firefighters attend the Academy each year, with about 300 participating in the week-long Annual Fire School held in August. Ironically, in a year when the state experienced several major fires, Wheeler fears that the Academy's budget will be reduced, forcing them to cut back on training. We need them to ensure safety.