| Fast Facts |
location
Near Silver City, New Mexico; 2.5 hours northwest of El Paso, Texas
ecoregion
Arizona-New Mexico Mountains
project size
1.9 million acres
preserves
Gila Riparian, Mimbres River
public lands
Gila National Forest, Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument, Bureau of Land Management lands, state trust lands
partners
U.S. Forest Service, Jornada Experimental Range, Greer & Winston, Ltd., NM Environmental Department, NM Department of Game & Fish, U.S. EPA, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Grinnell College
conservancy initiatives
Fire, Freshwater
natural events
hummingbirds, mid-July to early August; monsoon rains bring abundance of frogs, toads and summer wildflowers, July through September | |
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| In the shadow of the oldest wilderness area in the country, an experiment aims to balance cattle grazing with the ecological needs of wild creatures. |
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West Fork of the Gila.
© George H. H. Huey |
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Up near the continental divide of southwestern New Mexico, where sun-warmed pine and fir needles are pungent underfoot, two rivers rise and flow down opposite sides of the Mogollon Range. The Gila flows west, the Mimbres east. The Gila -- free-flowing and wild in its New Mexico reaches -- eventually merges with the Colorado. But the Mimbres, a closed-basin desert stream, tumbles downslope only 40 miles before disappearing underground.
Around 1450, an ancient culture bearing the same name as the evanescent river also disappeared mysteriously. Signs of the Mimbres people are everywhere along the two rivers, from pit houses to shards of black-on-white pottery. Later the Apaches made these mountains and valleys their home -- and their hideout. Geronimo, the Chiricahua Apache who was born here, three times fled Arizona reservations to return to the wilds of his birthplace. The maze of rugged canyons hid him and fellow Apaches like Cochise, as well as outlaws like Butch Cassidy. |
Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument.
© George H. H. Huey |
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The wilderness that gave them refuge remains to this day. In 1924, at the urging of Aldo Leopold, whose first assignment out of Yale Forestry School had been in the Gila National Forest, the Gila became the nation's first designated wilderness area. Here, where southern Rockies meet Sierra Madre, Mexican gray wolves, Mexican spotted owls and hundreds of species of |
| nesting birds travel the spine of the sheltering mountains. In the headwaters of the two wild rivers remain the last stronghold of the endangered southwestern willow flycatcher and the sole population of the Chihuahua chub, a native fish that once nourished the Mimbres people. | |
Although a ranching culture has helped preserve the area's wilderness character, cattle grazing along the rivers have degraded water quality and streamside forests, putting both the flycatcher and the chub in danger. In a collaborative venture to find ecologically sound grazing practices, The Nature Conservancy has teamed with local ranchers to create the 163,000-acre Headwaters Ranch, an experiment that is being monitored and documented by scientists.
Learn more about The Nature Conservancy's work in New Mexico. |
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| Conservation Profile |
targets
Mexican spotted owl, southwestern willow flycatchers, Chiricahua leopard frog, Mexican gray wolf, cottonwood-willow forests, Arizona sycamore, native fish like Chihuahua chub, spikedace and Gila trout
stresses
altered fire regime, inappropriate grazing, invasive species, river channelization, surface water diversion
strategies
acquire land and water rights, improve grazing management, restore ecosystems through fire management, remove levees and water diversions, combat invasive species
results
more than 164,000 acres in conservation management | | | | |
