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Home  News Latest New Conservation Easement Protects 1,760 Acres of Wildlife Habitat
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New Conservation Easement Protects 1,760 Acres of Wildlife Habitat |
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Santa Fe, NM - The New Mexico Land Conservancy announces completion of a conservation easement that safeguards over 1,760 acres of critical wildlife habitat on the Bioresearch Ranch, located in Hidalgo County in the extreme southwestern part of the state known as "the Boot Heel."
Landowners Robert and Kathryn Scholes sold the development rights to the land below their fair market value and also made a substantial donation toward the creation of an endowment for the long-term stewardship of the easement. Funding for the project was provided by the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the Turner Foundation and the New Mexico Community Foundation.
"Among other things, the conservation easement preserves the significant wildlife habitat and scenic, open space qualities of the ranch, prohibits subdivision and separation of water rights, and will help assure that the natural ecosystem processes will only have minimal human intervention at the local level," noted Scott Wilber, the Conservancy's Executive Director.
The conservation easement will be co-held through a cooperative arrangement by the New Mexico Land Conservancy and the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department's State Forestry Division.
"Collaborative partnerships create valuable land and wildlife legacies now for future generations," stated Joanna Prukop, Cabinet Secretary for New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department. "This conservation easement is an example of the great public good that can be achieved when private landowners, government, and environmental organizations work together."
The Bioresearch Ranch is situated in the heart of the rugged Peloncillo Mountains, which have been identified by The Nature Conservancy, the World Wildlife Fund and the Wildlands Project as having some of the highest biodiversity values in the state. The property also represents a critical link in what is an important north-south wildlife corridor between the Gila Range to the north and the Sierra Madre Mountains to the south in Mexico. Given its proximity to public land and other protected private land, the Bioresearch Ranch conservation easement contributes to the protection of a much larger landscape locally known as the Malpai Borderlands.
Robert and Kathryn Scholes acquired the property in 1972 after his retirement from the Public Health Service and have been operating the "ranch" as an ecological research site and facility ever since. The couple began collecting data and doing basic research on weather, soils and vegetation. Over the years, the Scholes collaborated and shared data with numerous academic institutions, conservation organizations and public agencies including state universities in New Mexico and Arizona, The Nature Conservancy, World Wildlife Fund, the Malpai Borderlands Group, the Sky Islands Alliance, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.
"Katie and I have always been interested in ecology and biodiversity conservation, and we wanted to do something concrete," said Robert Scholes. "The completion of the conservation easement was really the next logical step in what has been a thirty-five year labor of love to study and preserve the Bioresearch Ranch."
The Bioresearch Ranch is ecologically classified as part of the Apache Highlands, but it also contains habitats that are characteristic of the Chihuahuan Desert ecosystem. It provides habitat for a variety of wildlife species: desert bighorn sheep, mountain lion, Coue's whitetail deer and javelina, and is particularly noted for its avian fauna. The property contains a variety of unique plant and animal communities that include several federal and state threatened and endangered species. There have been two documented jaguar sightings in the last ten years within 20 miles of the property.
Since its founding in 2002, the New Mexico Land Conservancy has protected nearly 60,000 acres of high conservation-value lands throughout New Mexico through the use of conservation easements and other voluntary land protection methods. For more information, please contact the New Mexico Land Conservancy at P.O. Box 6759, Santa Fe, NM 87502, (505) 986-3801 or at www.nmlandconservancy.org. |
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