Nature Conservancy Defends
Grazing, Other Economic Uses

SILVER CITY, N.M. —(AP)— Conservation and economic gain aren't mutually exclusive in land use, says an official of The Nature Conservancy.

"They are compatible through the balanced allocation of resources," said Peter Russell, southwest New Mexico field representative for The Nature Conservancy and an 18-year Mesilla Valley resident.

The conservancy has been acquiring deeded land and national forest allotments along the Gila and Mimbres rivers of southwestern New Mexico with the goal of letting the riparian areas revegetate after years of grazing.

The organization owns 700 acres along the Gila River north of the community of Gila, and is the permittee on the Watson Mountain allotment.

It also owns the former GOS Ranch and its 35,000-acre forest allotment, which includes five miles of the Upper Mimbres River. The conservancy intends to put about 150 head of cattle on the allotment, and is working with scientists and government agencies to monitor the area's health and grazing capacity.

In January, the conservancy bought 190 acres along the Mimbres, just north of San Juan, from ranchers Charles and Charlene Disert.

Terry Sullivan, the organization's director of conservation, said the purchase "greatly increases our ability to protect plants and animals in this beautiful watershed."

He also said it shows landowners in the Mimbres Valley are interested in conservation.

"I didn't want to see any more subdivision like what has happened to the Upper Mimbres area," said Charles Disert. "I would rather see green grass than blacktop."

The conservancy also owns three miles of deeded land along the Upper Mimbres. The riparian system there, with healthy stands of willows and cottonwoods on which many species depend, is "increasingly rare in the Southwest," Russell said.

The Nature Conservancy is known for what Russell calls its "community-based" approach to land and water conservation.

By acquiring land and working with neighbors, the conservancy "is not an outside agency coming in and telling people what to do," he said. "We discover what the issues are that people in the community are concerned about."

"We do a lot of partnerships with neighbors and with federal and state agencies," Russell said. "We try to work in a low-key, nonconfrontational fashion."

"We're not an advocacy group," he said. "You won't see our name on lawsuits. We are looking at whole systems, not single species."