The Nature Conservancy. Protecting nature. Preserving life.™

Our Focus

Though we have achieved much in the way of conservation over the past 30 years, we still have work left to accomplish. We are committed to working with others to help protect the lands and waters that sustain our way of life in New Mexico.

Our Priorities

Climate Change: Providing Visionary and Practical Solutions
Dramatic changes are taking place on our planet and is already affecting us here in New Mexico. Conservancy research indicates that over 95% of our state has experienced mean temperature increases over the past 30 years, resulting in species population declines and warmer, drier conditions in our mid- to high-elevation forests. Read more about this study.

The Conservancy is joining with policy makers, community members, businesses, scientists, industry leaders and others to slow the pace of climate change. In New Mexico and much of the southwest, natural resource managers lack information about how they can anticipate and adapt to the effects of regional climate change. We were the first Conservancy chapter to answer that need by creating a Climate Change Ecology and Adaptation Program to provide land and water managers with the information they need to tackle this important issue. 

Deserts & Aridlands: One of Today's Greatest Opportunities for Global Conservation
The Conservancy is working across the fragile lands that span the U.S.-Mexico border to help establish 6.2 million acres of protected areas and improve management practices on 7 million additional acres. This effort, called the Sonoran and Chihuahuan Borderlands Project, will link together a mosaic of private and public lands in a large-scale conservation vision. We will continue to work with both Diamond A Ranch in southwest New Mexico and the Malpai Borderlands Group in southeastern Arizona to keep this area a "working wilderness."

Both domestic and international policy will play a key role in how our deserts and aridlands are protected. The Conservancy helped secure passage of a major enhancement of the New Mexico Land Conservation Incentives Act, to expand the tax credits available to donors of conservation land or voluntary management agreements. We also work on international border policy issues to show the benefits of a healthy, unfragmented landscape for both people and nature. 

Grasslands: A Global Conservation Opportunity in our Own Backyard
Grasslands are the least protected and most threatened habitat on Earth. Here in New Mexico, we are fortunate to have some of the largest remaining intact grasslands on the planet. We are studying the impacts on climate change on these lands and we have several on-the-ground grassland projects where we are focusing our efforts:

• Milnesand Prairie Preserve/Mescalero Sandsheet: Our goal here is to protect 200,000 acres by 2012 through additional land acquisitions, the establishment of voluntary land conservation agreements, assisting landowners with control of invasive species, public lands designations, oil and gas mitigation and safely conducting prescribed burns.
• The Hi-Lo Country of Northeast New Mexico: This area is critical to the survival of rapidly declining North American grassland birds including Cassin's sparrow, burrowing owl and mountain plover; rare plants such as the Colorado gentian; fish such as the Arkansas River shiner; and animals such as the black-tailed prairie dog. We aim to protect 300,000 by 2012.
• The Janos Grasslands of New Mexico: Home to the largest complex of black-tailed prairie dogs in the world and also a critical site for prairie birds and animals. Collaborative conservation efforts of the Janos grasslands were rapidly accelerated by the purchase of the 47,000-acre Rancho El Uno—the most ecologically important ranch in the area, and the largest private land acquisition for conservation ever completed in Mexico. Our goal is to create a financially secure, internationally recognized Rancho El Uno research program that will support greater collaborative conservation throughout the region. 

Rivers and Streams: Healthy Water Equals Healthy Communities
Essential to all life, fresh water provides a wealth of natural services, including the water we drink and the places that restore our spirits. The Conservancy is contributing to the organization's freshwater protection efforts by:

• working to protect three of the most important tributaries to the legendary Colorado River: the Gila, Rio Nutria and San Juan;
• informing and influencing New Mexico water law and policy;
• contributing science and conservation expertise to other areas of the organization, such as the Zambezi River project.

The Conservancy in New Mexico is also creating innovative solutions that will protect drinking supplies for the future. For example, we partnered with the City of Santa Fe to create a “water fund” that provides money for the U.S. Forest Service to conduct controlled burns in the Santa Fe National Forest. These burns help reduce the chance of wildfires which can cause erosion into reservoirs that provide drinking water to the city.

Setting Priorities for Restoration

The Conservancy partnered with the New Mexico Division of Forestry, the Forest Guild, and the Trust for Public Land to create a broad-scale assessment of the condition and threats to our state's natural resources. The Division of Forestry and its many partners will use this information to identify priority landscapes for restoration.  Resources and threats analyzed in the statewide assessment included forest heath, biological diversity, development potential, water quality and quantity, economic potential, green infrastructure, fragmentation, and wildfire risk.  Along with the natural resource assessment, a strategy and response plan was developed to guide the Division of Forestry in setting long term management objectives. Learn more