2018 – A Great Year for Land Conservation!

The New Mexico Land Conservancy’s
2018 Annual Report is now available online

2018 has been a great year for land conservation in
New Mexico – and a great year for NMLC as well.
All things considered – the number of easements
completed, acres conserved, revenue generated, new
board members recruited and new projects initiated
by staff working full-out at their professional best – 2018
has been one of NMLC’s best years yet!

In 2018 we completed a record number of nine easements,
conserving 37,680 acres and pushing our grand total from
175,000 acres to well over the 200,000 mark (see map on
left). And we have lined up an impressive number of new
projects for 2019!

In 2018, staff and board developed and finalized NMLC’s
5-year strategic plan for 2019-2024. Our mission and strategic
goals have been honed over the years into a clear
set of priorities whose relevance has only increased with
the changing economic and climate conditions in our arid
and underfunded southwestern state.

As I reflect back over the year, I am filled with pride and
deep appreciation for our small staff and board, and all
that we’ve accomplished. New Mexico is a big state with
a lot of proverbial ground to cover. I am fortunate to be
director of such a fine group of individuals who worked
together seamlessly this year, each volunteering to help
one another despite the volume of work of their own
plates. This past year we had some fun, too. We made
time for a brief staff retreat down in Silver City at the Bear
Mountain Lodge last summer, to explore our past and
present – what worked, what didn’t work so well – and to
brainstorm our own future as an organization and what
we want the future of conservation in New Mexico and
the Southwest to look like.

We’ve set our sights high for that future: we ultimately
want to conserve one million acres in the Southwest –
a goal that represents more than just a number. One
million acres says to us that we are thinking big and that
we’re going to stay actively focused on our core mission
– protecting and conserving land – and not just rest on
our laurels. It is also our way of saying that we believe
we’re up to the challenge. It’s an ambitious goal to be
sure – if things go as anticipated in 2019, we may top
the 300,000-acre mark. But we believe in ourselves, our
ability to move ever-closer to this significant benchmark for
one reason . . . because of our love for New Mexico – its
water, wildlife, working lands and wide open-spaces.

For the land,

Scott Wilber, Executive Director