A Little Bit More About Reptiles and Amphibians in Our Part of the Desert

Leave Las Cruces and cross these mountains to get to WSMR

I am learning more about this part of the Chihuahuan Desert all the time. When we went to Night in the Desert last week we met a lot of experts, one of whom was Doug Burkett. I've been reading his book, Amphibians and Reptiles of White Sands Missile Range; Field Guide 2008* and would like to share some facts from the book with you.

The White Sands Missile Range (often referred to as WSMR) is located on the other side of the San Andres, San Augustin, and Organ Mountains from Las Cruces, where I live. I had no idea that the range was such a huge tract of land! It has over 2.2 million acres, and within its borders contains White Sands National Monument and the San Andres National Wildlife Refuge.

Coming through the pass toward the Tularosa Basin and WSMR

Quoting from the book: Seven species of amphibians and 47 species of reptiles, representing 3 orders and 12 families have been documented on WSMR. There are six species of toads (3 spadefoot toads and 3 true toads), 1 salamander, 1 turtle, 19 lizards, and 27 snakes. Five rattlesnake species occur on WSMR and bites from all are potentially lethal. All other snakes occurring on WSMR are either nonvenomous or mildly venomous and are not dangerous to humans.

Here are some interesting facts I came across while reading the same book:

• The color of the Southern Plateau Lizard (Sceloporus cowlesi) "ranges from white on gypsum dunes (found at the White Sands National Monument) to nearly black on lava flows," such as the one near Carrizozo.

Gypsum dunes at White Sands National Monument

• A population of Trans-Pecos Ratsnakes (Bogertophis subocularis) from the Carrizozo Lava Flow is consistently darker than the same kind of snake living in other areas of WSMR.
• Hog-nosed Snakes (Heterodon nasicus) "do not constrict prey, but sometimes grasp lizards in their mouth and repeatedly roll over to help subdue the prey before swallowing."
• A Night Snake (Hypsigiena torquata) "in captivity bit and paralyzed a Gray Banded Kingsnake (Lampropeltis alterna) nearly twice its weight and attempted to consume it. After a forced release, the kingsnake revived within 20 minutes."
• "A Great Plains Ratsnake [Pantherophis emoryi] in captivity ate an adult Hog-nosed Snake after sharing a tank for 5 years."

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*About obtaining a copy of the book: I got my copy of Mr. Burkett's book directly from the author and have been unable to find this book online. If you are interested in obtaining a copy of your own, you might try writing to:

U.S. Army Garrison - White Sands

Directorate of Public Works

Environment Division

White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico 88002

~or you could try contacting the White Sands Missile Range online.

Facing Up to the Past: Visiting Trinity Site

Trinity Site is a long way from our house but the ride is gorgeous. We passed through all kinds of terrain—prairie, desert, mountains, and something that looked a lot like California before all the people came—on our way to and from White Sands.

Just before reaching the Stallion Gate we were met by some very friendly folks who gave us printed directions and a brochure. It turns out that they were counting people and pets in the cars headed out to the Trinity Site. I’m not sure why they keep track of the pets, but you can check out past counts at http://www.wsmr.army.mil/pao/TrinitySite/trnatt.htm. Then we came to the gate where the scrutiny was a little more intense. We presented our identification documents and were allowed through.

Once we got up to the parking lot, we were surrounded by groups of people who had been riding too long together in cars. We noted license plates from New Mexico, of course, and Colorado, Texas, New Hampshire (we left those people a note), Michigan, Montana, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Virginia, Idaho, and Illinois, and then we stopped keeping track because we were also too cranky from riding in the car.

Out to ground zero—it was a big disappointment. I would have thought that such a monumental event would have left behind more obvious evidence. There is just a slight circular depression, not a crater, as you might expect. The 1945 blast melted the desert sand into a green glassy substance called trinitite and the information I had seen implied that I would see plenty of it. However, the the government had apparently taken most of it away years ago so there was none to be seen. Apparently there is an area that contains some of the original trinitite in place, now covered over with sand, but it has a shed built around it that is no longer accessible. We saw lots of people crawling around looking for little bits that might be remaining, but no one seemed to be finding any. It’s illegal to pick it up—dangerous, too, as it is still radioactive.

Since I wasn’t finding the site itself interesting, I concentrated on the beautiful surrounding scenery and the people crowded around me. According to past figures, around 2800-3200 people attend these open houses. I was saddened to see some young kids who must have belonged to some kind of paramilitary organization tromping around in big boots and overlarge uniforms. Seeing them made me wonder if most visitors saw this whole atomic bomb thing as a tragedy of the greatest magnitude or as just another kind of theme park.

There wasn’t any ceremony, there weren’t any speeches—just a lot of tired, hot, crabby people shuffling around from historical marker to photo to bomb casing. Photography is allowed at the site, but not on the rest of the White Sands Missile Range. We left after taking lots of photos of the crowd and ground zero. I was relieved to be leaving, especially when I saw a group of what looked like Japanese tourists approaching the site. There was no right expression to put on my face, no way I could look them in the eye.

We headed off to San Antonio, to find the answer to a question that had long been bothering us. (Tomorrow: San Antonio).

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Trinitite: http://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/hiroshimatrinity/trinitite.htm

Trinity Site: http://www.wsmr.army.mil/pao/TrinitySite/trnatt.htm

Duck and Cover! Memories of the Atomic Age

I want to say right up front that I am not a military history buff. I don't like war, I don't like killing, I don't like bombs. I don't like it when our country uses its power against other countries.

Having said all that, I am going to write about the Trinity Site on the White Sands Missile Range in the Tularosa Basin of southern New Mexico. This is where the first atomic bomb, results of the Manhattan Project, was detonated at 5:29:45 AM (Mountain Time) on July 16, 1945, bringing us the beginning, for better or for worse, of the atomic age. The second and third atomic bombs were exploded over Hiroshima on August 6 and Nagasaki on August 9, ultimately bringing the second World War to an end. The site of the detonation at White Sands is open to the public for a few hours twice a year, on the first Saturday of October and on the first Saturday of April.

Beez had long wanted to go see the Trinity Site. I was reluctant, thinking about exposure to radiation and just not wanting to have anything to do with the place. However, we agreed to take the trip and drove several hundred miles last Saturday to find out what the site was all about. Along the way, we talked about our memories of those times, and why there is such a fascination with this place.

Here are my memories of the bomb. I was less than a year old when the war ended, so I didn't know anything about that. But when I was 8 or 9 years old, my family lived in San Francisco in the early 1950s when atomic bomb tests were taking place in Nevada. My father drove a tow truck, working the night shift. I can remember my great excitement when he swung home to pick me up in the middle of the night when there were announced atomic tests at the Nevada Test Site at Frenchman Flat, about 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas. My mother made sure that I was dressed warmly and off we went into the San Francisco darkness. What an adventure for a little kid, being allowed out well after bedtime and with special time alone with Daddy! We always went right up to the top of Twin Peaks and Daddy would park the truck so that the nose was pointed southeast to face where he figured Las Vegas to be. Then he would turn on the radio to an AM station that would actually tune into the countdown to the detonation. Five, four, three, two, one... We'd wait a few seconds and then we would see it--a flash like lightning out on the horizon. And that was it. We'd drive down Twin Peaks for the highlight of the night, to my 8 year old self, stopping in at the Flying Saucer Cafe where we'd eat "dollar pancakes" and I'd have a cup of hot chocolate with whipped cream. So much innocence on the one hand, and so much potential death and harm and chaos on the other.

Here is what Beez had to say: When you grew up in the 1950s learning to hide under your desk in case of nuclear attack (!), you owed it to yourself to go see the place that started it all.

To get an idea of the fears we faced as school children, you must first realize that all school-age kids were required to wear engraved dog tags that gave their names, addresses, and blood type. Somehow the space for blood type was never filled in. Even as a child I understood that there probably wouldn't be enough of me left over after a bomb to worry about blood transfusions.

Then take a look at the instructional film called Duck and Cover. It was meant to reassure children about the bomb, so that they would know what to do if/when it came for them. The film is anything but comforting. Here is a sampling from the film of what young children were being told:

• We must be ready for a new danger...Tony knows the bomb can explode any time of the year, day or night...The flash of an atomic bomb can come at any time...vacations and holiday time...we must be ready
  
• Sometimes the bomb might explode without any warning


• You might be eating your lunch when the flash comes


• If you are not ready and do not know what to do it could hurt you in different ways


• There might not be any grownups around when the bomb explodes, then you're on your own.


• [The bomb can come] on a beautiful spring day...but no matter where [children] go or what they do they must always try to remember what to do if the atomic bomb explodes right then. It's a bomb! Duck and cover!


• You'll know when it comes.

Call it morbid fascination, but we were on our way. (Tomorrow: Visiting the Trinity Site).

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Duck and Cover: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0K_LZDXp0I

Manhattan Project: http://www.mbe.doe.gov/me70/Manhattan/index.htm

Nevada Test Site Historical Information: http://www.ntshf.org/index.htm

Trinity Site: http://www.wsmr.army.mil/pao/TrinitySite/trinst.htm

White Sands Missile Range: http://www.wsmr.army.mil/