High Plains Grasslands Alliance
OUR MEMBERS
Black Willow Ranch
Black Willow Ranch was established in 1862. Today we are a working ranch offering custom grazing, grass finished beef, and ranch working bridlehorses at our first class horse facility. Our summer months are spent caring for stocker cattle and monitoring grazing leases. In the winter, we board professional polo horses and finish yearling cattle for the grass-fed beef market. Black Willow Ranch has been recognized as a special place for generations, and our respect for the land, our history, and the vision that established us drives us to ensure our legacy for the next 150 years. Always putting the land first, our goal is to improve the ecosystem while we imitate a natural grazing cycle. Our strategy allows us to stay rooted in time-honored principles while we explore and adapt to progressive ranching practices.
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Twin Willows Ranch
Twin Willows Ranch is an idyllic ranch with over two thousand private and secluded acres in Mora County, New Mexico. The ranch has been operating under its current ownership for over 26 years. During the first decade, Twin Willows Ranch was part of the cutting horse industry and earned recognition as an outstanding performance horse operation. Beginning 2003, the owner re-envisioned the ranch to focus on land health and environmental stewardship, while providing a safe and comfortable shelter for the ranch’s family of dogs, cats, goats, horses, and cattle, some of which are rescued animals who have found a new home at the ranch. The Ranch now serves as a sanctuary for family and friends and collaborates with a diverse group of scientists to understand and restore the ecology of the ranch. These specialists, have performed multiple studies as part of the ranch Land and Water Program including pollinator and bird surveys, vegetation assessments, and groundwater and climate monitoring.
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DeHaven Ranch/Preserve
OUR PARTNERS
Fort Union National Monument
Fort Union National Monument preserves the largest collection of adobe remains in the western US. It storied history includes life on the Santa Fe Trail, interaction with Native American Tribes struggling to maintain their way of life, and the development of new lands in the New Mexican Territory. Goods arrived at the Fort Union Depot overland via freight wagon trains on the Santa Fe Trail and were distributed on to other Forts in New Mexico and Arizona. Today special events bring the Santa Fe Trail and life on the edge of the Great Plains to life through military weapons demonstrations, presentations, music, and kid’s activities. The park has a robust exotic plant management program, supported by school and volunteer groups that help reseed native grasses of short grass prairie and remove non-native plants on approximately 720 acres.
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New Mexico Forest & Watershed Institute
The New Mexico Forest and Watershed Restoration Institute (NMFWRI), which is located at New Mexico Highlands University, is a statewide effort that engages government agencies, academic and research institutions, land managers, and the interested public in the areas of forest and watershed management. The Institute is one of three formed by the Federal Southwest Forest Health and Wildfire Prevention Act of 2004. Our partner institutions are the Ecological Restoration Institute, located at Northern Arizona University, and the Colorado Forest Restoration Institute, located at Colorado State University.
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Denver Zoo
Since 2012 the Denver Zoological Foundation has been partnering with the USFWS, New Mexico Highlands University, and the Pueblo of Pojoaque to protect and manage the Rio Mora NWR. Under this collaboration, which is the first of its kind in the country, the Denver Zoo supervise all conservation, education, outreach and research programs at the refuge. This partnership and the close collaboration with the Pueblo of Pojoaque to manage a bison herd that calls the 4,224ha Rio Mora Refuge home, and with Highlands University as main research partner; the Denver Zoo seek to fulfill its mission of “securing a better world for animals trough human understanding”. The Rio Mora NWR is a central component of the Zoo’s ecological, restoration, and conservation research in its Rocky Mountain/Great Plains program.
Rio Mora National Wildlife Refuge & Conservation Area
Formerly the Wind River Ranch, the refuge and conservation area are a continuation of the vision of philanthropist Eugene V. Thaw and his wife Clare E. Thaw who bought the Ranch in 1980 with the intent of protecting and restoring the land as a representative piece of southwestern ecological heritage. To that end, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is working to facilitate partnerships to provide protection and cooperative management within the Mora River watershed.
The Rio Mora National Wildlife Refuge was established in 2012 and is part of the National Wildlife Refuge System, a national network of protected areas set aside for the benefit of wildlife, habitat, and you.
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Moore Hydrology
Stephanie J. Moore, P.G., is a Hydrologist and licensed Professional Geoscientist (TX No. 11727) with over seventeen years of experience in water resource investigations. She is the sole employee and owner of Moore Hydrology, LLC. Stephanie is an experienced scientist, quantitative data analyst, project manager and technical writer. Her primary areas of expertise include quantitative analysis of stream-aquifer interactions, vadose-zone processes, aquifer storage and recovery, and spatial and temporal variations in water quality; water resources and conservation planning; and database design and management. She enjoys using her technical skills to help governmental agencies, non-profit organizations, scientists, managers and attorneys identify, design and implement practical water resources management solutions.
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DeHaven Ranch and Preserve is located near Roy, NM. Five generations have taken part in cultivating this unique property as a conservancy and sanctuary for plant and animal life to replicate, as near as possible, that which existed at the turn of the 20th Century. Currently, the family operates a very small Angus cow-calf operation as well as accommodates visits of small groups interested in educational outings/workshops and being on the land in NE NM.
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The Christmas Ranch
The Christmas Ranch, located in the foothills of the Turkey Mountains, south of Wagon Mound, NM has been in operation since 1948. The Christmas family has been ranching for five generations, since the late 1800’s, with ranches in Southeastern New Mexico and evolving to Southwestern New Mexico before purchasing the current Northeastern New Mexico ranch and selling the other properties.
The Christmas Ranch is primarily a yearling operation that handles steers and heifers over the growing season of May to October. The focus has been on livestock distribution by implementing water pipelines throughout the entire ranch, proactive and conservative grazing management that coincides with changing precipitation patterns.
Purchase of contiguous ranchland has expanded the operation which involves all members of the family.
Natural beef is brought in as part of the yearling operation to facilitate the growing demand for beef products free of antibiotics and growth hormones and to help producers with a place to grow their livestock to a desired body weight.
Annual ranch improvements of water, erosion control, fencing and brush clearing enhance the operation and benefit the livestock and wildlife of elk, deer, turkey and antelope. In addition, the family owns an earth moving business that helps other ranches as well as their own throughout New Mexico with erosion and brush control as well as pipeline installations and water tank improvements.
Zeigler Geologic Consulting, LLC
Zeigler Geologic Consulting, LLC (ZGC) is a small woman-owned geologic consulting business based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. We offer a wide variety of geologic services for numerous clients around New Mexico. Projects range from hydrogeology and custom groundwater monitoring plans to geologic mapping, paleontological resource management for construction projects and conservation easement endeavors. Our senior geologist, Dr. Kate Zeigler is an AIPG certified professional geologist and all of our staff members hold degrees in geosciences.
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Sol Ranch
Sol Ranch is a cow-calf cattle operation in the short grass/canyon country of northeastern New Mexico outside of Wagon Mound. This business is owned by young rancher, Emily Cornell, who is transitioning into the tenure of her family’s land. Emily grew up on this ranch before leaving to pursue a B.S. in Environmental and Organismic Biology at Fort Lewis College in Durango, CO. She worked briefly for the Forest Service before returning home to eventually lease land from her family. Sol Ranch grazes their cows, calves, and yearlings on grass year round utilizing low-input cattle adapted over 40 years to the ranch’s unique landscape. Sol Ranch sells grass-fed and finished beef direct to consumer and wholesale. Emily strives to manage for biologically diverse ecosystems with healthy soil and healthy livestock through grazing management, infrastructure development, monitoring, and collaborations with scientists and neighbors.
Fort Union Ranch
The Fort Union Ranch, in Watrous, New Mexico, has been in the same family since 1885. The Union Land and Grazing Company, the family corporation that owns and runs the ranch, has historically focused on raising beef cattle and providing habitat for elk, pronghorn and other wildlife. Today, the directors of the company are endeavoring to build resiliency in the land by investing in capital improvements and strengthening the operations and management of the ranch. With a long-term commitment to the stewardship of its historic landscape, the ranch is monitoring its water resources, protecting riparian land along creeks, and working to control erosion. The directors’ goals are to enhance the ranch’s ability to meet the challenges of climate change and to improve returns from cattle, natural resources, and other income streams while providing the family long term access to this remarkable property.