Exploring Wildlife at Vermejo: A Conversation with Lance Bernal
- mary anne potts
- Nov 6
- 3 min read
“Large predators are always interesting. Even with the collar, they’re still very cryptic, very
secretive about what they do," says Lance Bernal. As a wildlife biologist and Natural Resources Manager at Vermejo, a large private property that spans nearly 560,000 acres across northern New Mexico and southern Colorado, Bernal is one of the people listening closely. A native New Mexican from Sandia Pueblo, he obtained a Master of Science degree in Wildlife Science from Texas Tech University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Wildlife Biology from Colorado State University. Bernal leads a team that collects and analyzes data to better understand the wildlife and ecosystems that thrive on Vermejo.
In Preserved, Bernal helps viewers understand the science behind the conservation work
happening at Vermejo — explaining concepts like carrying capacity and taking audiences
into the field to collar mountain lions as part of a study on kleptoparasitism — a behavior in
which one predator steals a kill from another. The research focuses on investigating the
possible kleptoparasitism between black bears and mountain lions at Vermejo in
collaboration with Oklahoma State University. He also sheds light on other projects as well
including Vermejo’s nationally recognized efforts to restore Rio Grande cutthroat trout
habitat, part of an ongoing commitment to reviving native species and improving watershed
health; and the collaborative work with Vermejo and New Mexico Department of Game and
Fish regarding black bear ecology and movements on and off Vermejo.
Beyond his work, Lance is a devoted husband and father to three daughters, whom he
brings to Vermejo as often as he can to share his love of wildlife and conservation firsthand.
Q: The mountain lion tracking scene in Preserved is a crowd favorite in the film. What is going on with that study now?
Lance: The field data collection portion of the Mountain Lion Project is finished. The
graduate student is now doing classroom work and data analysis. Starting this fall, we’re
launching another wildlife project focused on the use of drones, in collaboration with
Colorado State University. We’ll begin that in late September. In the past, as you can see in
the film, we’ve relied on helicopters for our wildlife surveys. With this new project, we’re
exploring whether drones could eventually replace helicopters for population monitoring.
Q: Will the drone surveys cover all the different animal populations?
Lance: Hopefully, yes. The plan is to eventually use drones for all population surveys, but
we’ll start with a few and expand from there.
Q: How will that process work?
Lance: This year, the drone will follow our current helicopter protocol. Researchers at
Colorado State will analyze the data to see if it aligns. If it doesn’t, we’ll adjust our methods
and potentially redesign our population models to better fit drone data. We’ll be using both
video and possibly thermal imagery to capture animals and analyze their movements.
Q: That sounds like a lot of counting.
Lance: Yes, a lot of counting!
Q: The film also talks about the Rio Grande cutthroat trout project to restore their native habitat. What’s happening there?
Lance: That’s part of our watershed work. We’ve found that certain culverts are preventing
the trout from moving upstream. During high water, they can make it through, but in
normal summer flows, movement is restricted. This fall — or next year at the latest — we’ll
start installing bottomless culverts to improve fish passage throughout the Rio Costilla
watershed. We’re also collecting preliminary data that could support a graduate research
project down the road.
Q: Of all the species you study, which ones are the most interesting to you?
Lance: Large predators always fascinate me. Even with GPS collars, they remain very
secretive and hard to study. Ideally, we’d continue our predator studies long-term. We
already have some collared animals, and if we move forward with certain management
actions, that data will help us understand how they respond.
Q: Have you seen any signs this year that bears are taking mountain lion kills?
Lance: This year has been unusual because we’ve had such a wet summer — over 24 inches
of rain so far. I spoke with the Game and Fish biologist leading the bear project, and he said
the bears haven’t been traveling as far as usual. There’s so much food close by that they
don’t have to move around much.
Q: I don'’t blame them. I wouldn’t want to walk in the mud either.
Lance: Exactly! But we’ll continue to collaborate with the bear research team to
make sure we’re factoring that into our data.
Q: You’ve got an early morning ahead, right?
Lance: Yes — I’m meeting my hunter at 5:15 a.m. for an elk hunt.
Q: Well, good luck out there, and thank you for sharing your work with us.
Lance: Thank you.
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