A short drive south of Albuquerque sits the Mountain View neighborhood of South Valley, a manufacturing town that has dealt with a long history of environmental injustice that is all too common in under-resourced communities throughout the country. When Price’s Dairy Farm came up for sale, the community banded together to protect the 570-acre property to prevent the potential industrial development of one of the few green spaces in the area. Thanks to their efforts, the property officially became the Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge in 2012. Valle de Oro is unique in that it is the first urban refuge to be established after the creation of the Urban Wildlife Refuge Program; it can provide a blueprint on how to create more urban refuges from the ground up, and showcases the benefits of community engagement.