Why ‘Restore’ New Mexico?

What is Restore New Mexico?

Large-scale restoration efforts to restore our state’s

grasslands, woodlands, and riparian areas to a healthy and

productive condition.

Landscape Restoration Issues

• Removal of invasive riparian species

• Forest Health and fuels reduction

• Brush Invaded grasslands

• Abandoned O&G well reclamation

BLM Restore New Mexico

Partnerships are Key to Success

• Started in 2005, Restore NM is a collaborative restoration effort built on capacity-building partnerships.

• The program strives to be “colorblind” and includes

restoration efforts across multiple jurisdictions and ownerships including state, private, and public lands.

• With its roots in abandoned oil and gas well reclamation,

Restore NM has broadened its portfolio to include forest thinning, brush management, riparian restoration, wildlife habitat enhancement, fuels reduction and rangeland improvements.

Restoration Goals

• Use appropriate scale- landscape scale

• Science based decisions-what problem are we fixing?

• Monitor the treatment’s effectiveness

• Re-establish healthy ecosystems that are resilient

• Build Partnerships to help achieve mutual goals

• Education and Outreach so others can engage

Restoration Treatments

Restore NM acres treated since Inception:

3,335,572 acres of public, private & state lands

BLM 2,653,832 acres

State 328,105 acres

Private 313,560 acres

USFS 56,075 acres

Treatments included Chemical, Mechanical and

Prescribed Fire

Funds Spent on Restore New Mexico

• Funds from BLM: $16 million

• Funds from NRCS: $11 million

• Funds from other partners: $7 million

• Funds from Fire (non-WUI): $10.8 million

Total funds over the last 10 years

$44.8 Million

Why is Restore NM Successful?

• Both BLM and partners have matching visions for improving the health of the land.

• Restore New Mexico works with the local land managers, conservation districts , BLM field staff, NRCS, producers, conservationists, academics, and state officials.

• New directions include forest and woodland restoration in western and northern New Mexico.

• These funds are used to leverage additional funds from

other partners to assist with projects.

Restore NM would not be possible without the efforts of numerous partners. Key players from the beginning include:

• The New Mexico Association of Conservation Districts (NMACD), the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), and a number of Soil and Water Conservation Districts.

• The New Mexico Department of Game and Fish.

• Academic partners from New Mexico State University’s Jornada Experimental Range and the USGS Cooperative Research Unit have developed a broad landscape monitoring program.

BLM/NMACD Collaborative Forest Restoration

• Since 2013, BLM and NMACD have collaborated on several forest restoration projects with Salado, San Francisco and Lava Soil and Water Conservation Districts.

• The BLM puts funding into the agreement with NMACD who then allocates the funds to the SWCDs who in turn uses state price agreements (i.e. standing contracts) to get the work done.

• BLM takes care of NEPA and other compliance work and NMACD helps with the project design and contracting. All of this is increasing BLM’s capacity for forest and woodlands restoration.

BLM/NMACD Collaborative Forest Restoration

• Forest thinning projects included 600 acres of piñon-juniper at

Merts Ranch in El Malpais National Conservation Area near Grants.

• Tank Canyon WUI covers 125 acres including public firewood and

250 acres near Pelona Mountain in western NM using slash for

erosion control and to increase herbaceous vegetation.

• NMACD has also helped by contracting for cultural resource

surveys in support of forest management activities on more than 2500

acres, with 26,000 acres planned.

Merts Ranch Forest Thinning

For more information, please contact:

(505) 954-2222