Davis Spear Ranch

You might think the U.S. military is an unlikely conservation partner, but thanks to funding from the Department of Defense’s Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration (REPI) Program and the State of New Mexico Economic Development Department, the New Mexico Land Conservancy (NMLC) assisted The Conservation Fund in completing a complex, restricted-use conservation easement, which NMLC now holds, across 30,563 acres of privately owned working ranch land adjacent to the Melrose Bombing Range administered by Cannon Air Force Base in eastern New Mexico, about 25 miles from Clovis.

The easement on the Davis Spear Ranch, owned by 3^rd generation cattle rancher Tom Davis, is the largest single transaction in the history of the REPI program. Authorized by Congress, the REPI program supports cost-sharing partnerships between the military services, private conservation groups, and state and local governments to remove or avoid land-use conflicts near installations and address regulatory restrictions that inhibit military activities.

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