Places We Protect
Protecting the Lesser Prairie Chicken
The lesser prairie chicken once roamed in abundant numbers across the high plains of five states. Yet since 1900, their populations plummeted by 97 percent. Now, thanks to efforts to protect some of the best prairie chicken habitat left in the Lower 48, these distinctive "booming" birds have a greater chance of survival.
Santa Fe Canyon Preserve
Santa Fe Canyon Preserve is 190-acres of open space that offers a thriving bosque of cottonwood and willow trees, a pond, the ruins of an historic Victorian-era dam, hiking trails, more than 140 species of birds and the original route of the Santa Fe River.
Conservancy Purchase Protects World’s Largest Prairie Dog Complex
The April 2005 purchase of a 46,000-acre Mexican ranch will protect threatened grasslands and the world’s largest prairie dog colony. Conservationists and ranchers will work together to use cattle grazing, prairie dogs and reseeding to restore the grasslands.
How We Protect Watersheds. Explore a cool interactive feature to see how the Conservancy protects freshwater resources worldwide.
The Gila Riparian Preserve
This preserve protects a prime example of the Southwest's fragile riparian habitat and the verdant gallery woodland along the Gila River, the last of the Southwest's major free-flowing rivers. This is the most diverse broadleaf deciduous woodland in New Mexico.
The Gray Ranch
Located in the bootheel of New Mexico, the Gray Ranch is one of the most significant sites in the nation. It spans 500-square miles and contains more than 700 species of plants, 75 mammals, 50 reptiles and amphibians and more than 170 species of breeding birds.
Rare Pecos Sunflower Protected
The Nature Conservancy recently assisted the New Mexico State Forestry Division’s Rare and Endangered Plant Program in the purchase of 116 acres of the Blue Hole Cienega, a wetland near Santa Rosa, to protect habitat for the rare Pecos sunflower.
Rattlesnake Springs
Adjacent to Carlsbad Caverns National Park, Rattlesnake Springs Preserve consists of a one half mile wetland and small stream where sedges, rushes and cattails flourish.
Projects with Partners
The Nature Conservancy, in partnership with other organizations, has protected a variety of places you know and love.
New Conservation Directions
The Nature Conservancy is best known as the organization that buys land to conserve it. And, for most of our history, that is just what we have done. But we can’t buy all the land available, and we certainly can't protect all of it single handedly. So in the mid-1980s, the Conservancy expanded its approach.
Dripping Springs, Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge and the Edward Sargent Fish & Wildlife Area
More Conservancy projects and preserves -- many the result of partnerships with other organizations working with us to conserve New Mexico’s enchantment.
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