The Ladd S. Gordon Waterfowl Complex unites four wildlife management areas near Bernardo in central New Mexico to support birdlife in the Middle Rio Grande Basin. Its largest units, La Joya and Bernardo, together with smaller areas at Casa Colorada and Belen, provide habitat and food for a major share of the basin’s wintering waterbirds alongside Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. La Joya combines natural and man-made ponds, while Bernardo is managed especially for wintering waterfowl and sandhill cranes with planted and seasonally flooded fields. The complex honors Ladd S. Gordon, a New Mexico game official whose career shaped the state’s practical conservation policies.