Albuquerque, NM–The New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science is implementing a new admissions policy in an effort to make the Museum and Sandia Mountain Natural History Center even more accessible to New Mexico residents.

Both the Museum (located at 1801 Mountain Road NW, Albuquerque) and the Sandia Mountain Natural History Center (located at 60 Columbine Lane, Cedar Crest, NM) will be open to the public and free to New Mexico residents (with ID) the first Sunday of every month. (Entrance into the Lockheed Martin DynaTheater and Planetarium will be at regular admission fees.)

There is something for everyone at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science! The ancient past comes to life in the museum’s eight exhibit halls that make up Timetracks, a journey through time. You can see New Mexico in the Late Triassic when it was a land of tropical floodplains and giant amphibians and crocodile-like phytosaurs prowled the waterways, walk amidst the largest land animals of all time in the late Jurassic, and then plunge into the sea during the Cretaceous and swim alongside mosasaurs and prehistoric sharks. Other highlights in your journey through time include an active volcano, Ice Age cave, Dire wolves, mammoths, and Albuquerque’s last camel!

At the Naturalist Center you can explore fossils, as well as learn about animals you will find in New Mexico today, observing them up close and personal. Other exciting exhibits include Space Frontiers, featuring a full-scale model of the Mars rover, Startup: Albuquerque and the Personal Computer Revolution, and the new exhibit, Degrees of Change: New Mexico’s Climate Forecast.

The Museum invites visitors to explore the creatures, climate, and geologic phenomena of New Mexico in the past and present, and so much more, with exhibits that appeal to all ages and levels of interest.

Previously not open to the general public, The Sandia Mountain Natural History Center (SMNHC) is an award-winning environmental education center located in the Sandia Mountains just east of Albuquerque. This beautiful 128-acre piñon-juniper forest is owned by Albuquerque Public Schools and operated by the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science.

Operating since 1967, the SMNHC has over five miles of hiking trails and serves approximately 18,000 visitors a year with a focus on the Ecology Field Program, teaching over 12,000 students, teachers, and chaperones each year. Using the outdoors, this program teaches students about the interconnectedness of the biotic and abiotic parts of an ecosystem with a hands-on scientific approach. This wonderful facility will now be open to the public the first Sunday of every month (weather permitting) and free to New Mexico residents!

2011 Schedule of Free Sundays for New Mexico Residents at the
NMMNHS and SMNHC

(Entrance into the Lockheed Martin DynaTheater and Planetarium will be at the regular admission fees.)

June 5
July 3
August 6
September 4
October 2
November 6
December 4

About the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science
The New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science, a division of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, is a regional center of excellence in scientific research, exhibits, and science education.