Heritage Farm at ABQ BioPark Botanic Garden getting revamped

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — If you don’t know what Heritage Farm is, you’re not alone.

“Look, I just want to be honest, a lot of people don’t even know what we have now,” said Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller.

But, with a voter-approved $12.2 million upgrade coming to an 11-acre park inside the ABQ BioPark Botanic Garden, the City of Albuquerque hopes to change that.

“It’s going to be a testament to deeply rooted, important farming techniques that have been used in the Rio Grande Valley for, you know, really since time immemorial, when we think about our Indigenous cultures,” Keller said.

The mayor said they are also going to grow food that will actually be fed to the zoo animals.

Other updates will include four stained glass windows featuring Native wildlife, three new large animal pastures, two new animal barns, and one outdoor classroom.

There will also be a new, electric train experience.

“A lot of people are like, well, what happened to the train inside the zoo?” Keller said. “Well, that’s going to be over here.”

City officials said the train will seat up to 100 passengers and it will run the one-mile loop.

The parking lot will also get a facelift, and the whole section of the park will have its own entrance and ticketing booth.

“It’s an awesome experience that we want to really make sure that the entire city knows about because really, this is a hidden treasure,” Keller said.

City reps are hoping to have the work done in about a year.