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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.
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:
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:
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.
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
New Mexico Forest Restoration Principles
In an unprecedented collaborative effort, 13 organizations jointly announced the release of these principles, which will reduce conflict and legal challenges for forest harvesting projects across the state.
Land and Water Conservation Fund
Full funding of this program can provide millions of dollars to our precious natural areas—places like the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge—which will benefit the citizens of New Mexico as well as its wildlife.
We need to act now, before it's too late. Watch the Video, Take Action
We're addressing Latin America's most pressing conservation issues. Read the Story
Gila River and Mongollon Mountains at Gila Riparian Preserve in New Mexico, United States, North America. © Harold E. Malde