The Mesilla Valley Bosque State Park preserves a stretch of Rio Grande cottonwood woodland — the bosque — along the river south of Las Cruces. The bosque ecosystem once lined the entire Rio Grande through New Mexico and now survives only in fragments; this is one of the better-preserved stretches in the southern part of the state. In autumn, the cottonwoods turn a luminous gold that rivals any fall colour display in the region.
The park has walking and cycling trails along the river levee, with good views across the floodplain and back to the Organ Mountains. Birdwatching is excellent: sandhill cranes winter in the Mesilla Valley in the thousands, moving between the bosque and the agricultural fields, and more than 200 species have been recorded along this stretch of river. The annual migration peaks in November and December, when the fields north and south of Las Cruces fill with cranes.
The river access points make this a good spot for kayaking and fishing. The Rio Grande here is slow, brown, and not especially dramatic, but it is the river and it supports an ecology that is surprising given the surrounding desert.