Greg Moore manages his 23,000-acre ranch in eastern New Mexico to support both cattle and wildlife. To ensure the playas and grasslands continue to be preserved, he worked with New Mexico Land Conservancy to put his ranch under a conservation easement. He has also restored playas by filling in pits and developed alternative water sources for his cattle.

“I just don’t think people understood what a playa does, what the nature of it is — and that’s be an infiltrator, that water going down,” says Greg. “The thing we didn’t understand was when you put a pit tank in there, you disturbed what that playa was supposed to do.”

There are many programs available to help landowners conserve and restore playas. Learn about playa conservation programs at PlayasWorkForNewMexico.com. For more information about conservation easements, visit NMLandConservancy.org.