In southeast New Mexico, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is working to preserve grassland habitat and improve rangeland health on public lands by treating and removing invasive mesquite. This is part of a larger effort through Restore New Mexico to remove mesquite on both public and private lands. Since 2005, the partnership has treated 2,050,630 acres.
“Seeing the landscape return to a proper-functioning ecosystem is an amazing thing; and seeing that vision catch on with more and more partners, as they see it working on the ground, is really why we do what we do.”
One of the challenges of addressing woody encroachment is the patchwork distribution of these lands. While there are over 13 million acres of BLM land in New Mexico, those acres are spread out across the state. Moreover, many of the BLM parcels in southeast New Mexico are held in grazing allotments, areas that can include land owned by multiple entities that are leased and managed as a single unit.
“When looking at most of our area, the ownership of the surface is very checkerboarded, so we have to maintain ongoing communication and coordination between all the involved parties,” explains Ty Carter, Reclamation Coordinator for BLM’s Pecos District. “Each partner has their own ideas about how they want the process to work, and they each have different ways to get projects moving forward and funded.”
Despite these challenges, the brush management partners continue to find collaborative solutions to prevent the effects of woody encroachment on public lands. Bureau of Land Management, CEHMM, New Mexico Association of Conservation Districts, New Mexico State Land Office, and local Soil and Water Conservation Districts work together with the lessees and landowners in the area to preserve the many functions of these grasslands on public lands and beyond. In cases where land is being managed in allotments, that means developing relationships with the lessees and getting their buy-in before restoration practices can be conducted, so coordination among stakeholders is essential.
For example, the partners worked with NRCS – through the Regional Conservation Partnership Program – to design a cost share program that helps ranchers near the Mescalero Ridge with the costly removal of standing dead mesquite trees. The skeletons that remain after treatment are natural perches for predators; removing them creates critical habitat for grassland birds and other wildlife. That program was approved in 2020, and it continues to support management efforts today.
PLJV is monitoring grassland birds across an area of approximately one million acres in order to analyze bird responses to this changing landscape. To understand and communicate the benefits of mesquite removal treatments, PLJV is also providing grassland monitoring on over 37,000 acres.
Because resprouts, seedlings, and continued expansion of mesquite populations continue to pose a threat for grasslands and their birds, the Restore New Mexico partners are committed to sustaining mesquite management efforts for decades to come and continue to engage with land managers about the importance of early removal.
“We really try to maintain, as a group, the shared goal of landscape restoration that benefits all land users and wildlife,” adds Carter. “Seeing the landscape return to a proper-functioning ecosystem is an amazing thing; and seeing that vision catch on with more and more partners, as they see it working on the ground, is really why we do what we do.”