Innovative Partnership Formed to Restore the West Potrillos

Abstract

In December 2010, a diverse group of partners that included sportsmen, ranchers, biologists, conservationists, and land managers met on the barren foothills of the West Potrillo Mountains southwest of Las Cruces, New Mexico, to celebrate the beginning of a large-scale land restoration project that was years in the making. Like many landscapes in southern New Mexico, the West Potrillos were once healthy grasslands but had suffered terribly from the encroachment of brush species such as creosotebush and mesquite. This collaborative partnership effort to improve the health of the West Potrillos highlights the success possible when partners, even those with significantly different ideas and objectives, work together to find common ground and develop strategies to realize a shared vision.