Restoring Grasslands for Bird-friendly Beef
It's not just the birds that benefit! Read how rotational grazing and a conservation easement help restore and protect New Mexico grasslands for wildlife and livestock!
Nick’s New Mexico Photo Journal
Our summer stewardship intern, Nick Jacobson, spent most of his assignment out on the land in New Mexico. He often camped, sometimes fished, drove a lot, and shot many photographs for us from the field. The images presented here, combined with Nick's words, offer a view of New Mexico as seen by someone for the first time. Enjoy Part 2 of Nick's photographic tour of our uniquely beautiful and diverse state.
We Did It!
We are proud to announce that the New Mexico Land Conservancy (NMLC) has been awarded renewed accreditation for the next five years, 2020-2024, from the Land Trust Accreditation Commission, an independent panel of professionals who conduct an extensive review of the policies, programs and practices of each land trust applicant.
“As the only statewide land trust in New Mexico, the volume of work we’re doing now, compared to the last five years of our first accreditation, makes this renewal even more significant,” said NMLC’s Executive Director, Scott Wilber. “We are a stronger organization than ever for having gone through the rigorous renewal process.”
Beautiful New Mexico in Photographs
Our summer intern, Nick Jacobson, has a good eye for landscape photography! Since many New Mexicans are staying home more this summer for health and safety reasons, we thought we’d send you images of the New Mexico landscape as Nick makes his way across our beautiful state on NMLC's annual stewardship monitoring mission.
A Different Kind of Earth Day
This Earth Day, since we can’t be with you in person, we thought we’d share some success stories recently published in our 2019 Annual Report. From the Lesser Prairie Chicken conservation bank . . . to the White Sands Missile Range buffer zone, NMLC is committed to diverse, creative approaches to real and measurable results where it counts: on the land!
Dr. Craig Allen video is here!
Place-based ecologist, Dr. Craig Allen, addresses the 'State and Fate of Mountain Forests in New Mexico and the West' at NMLC's first speaker event in January 2020. (Video link here)
A ‘Lek up’ for the Lesser Prairie Chicken in New Mexico!
With their unique sounds and elaborate dance displays, the Lesser Prairie Chicken is one of New Mexico's iconic reminders of our vanishing grasslands and a species losing ground to development. As construction begins this week on its monumental Sagamore Wind Project in eastern New Mexico, wind developer, Xcel Energy, voluntarily buys mitigation credits in New Mexico's first Lesser Prairie Chicken Conservation Bank, the result of a two-year effort by a host of partners including: Common Ground Capital, RiverBank Conservation, Tomahawk CB LLC, US Fish & Wildlife Service, Mack Kizer/Lost Draw Ranch, and the New Mexico Land Conservancy (NMLC).
Legislating for Healthy Soil in New Mexico
New Mexico joined a host of other states this year by enacting the Healthy Soil Act to encourage and help fund education and agricultural practices that enhance the condition of this critical natural resource. Here's how one rancher, Kimberly Barmann, CS Ranch, is helping to get the word out about the importance and benefits of healthy soil on New Mexico's rangelands.
Managing the Forest for the Watershed (and the Trees)
Sounding more like a football cheer than new legislation, the state forestry folks refer to it as “FAWRA”– this year’s new Forest And Watershed Restoration Act (HB 266a) – created to provide funding to the state forestry division of the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department (EMNRD) for projects out on the landscape to help secure our state’s water future through forest restoration work. Evidently, there’s A LOT of forest that needs attention in New Mexico.
The Wildlife Corridors Act ― A Plan for Safe Passage In New Mexico
With the recent signing of the Wildlife Corridors Act into law, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham and the 2019 New Mexico State Legislature have recognized the importance of identifying our state’s key wildlife movement corridors. This legislation brings into focus an issue which is paramount to the future of New Mexico’s rural economies and continued natural heritage.