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12

May

2025

Public Land Stewards on the Taos Plateau

    The Taos plateau is a high elevation basalt filled valley in north New Mexico.  It is bordered by the Tusas mountains to the west and the Sangre de Cristo in the east.  It sits at 7,000' elevation and experiences frigid winters and scalding summers.  In 2013 the area was designated the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument.  It encompasses 242,555 acres of sagebrush, grassland, piñon juniper forest and the Rio Grande gorge.  In the winter, large herds of elk migrate out of the Tusas ...
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29

Jan

2025

Backcountry Stewardship in the Bootheel of New Mexico

  The Bootheel region of New Mexico is normally viewed from inside a car speeding down I-10.  From the interstate it appears desolate and dry.  Large wide expanses of creosote bush and mesquite fade off into distant rocky peaks.  If you have ever hunted or hiked in this landscape, you know that it is full of life to be discovered.   Javelina scattered along the hillsides searching for barrel cactus fruit, mule deer browsing the mesquite bushes, Gambel's quail in the washes, pronghorn in the ...
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28

Aug

2024

Two Miles of Sheep Fencing Removed in New Mexico

                                               Domesticated sheep arrived with the early Spanish conquistadors and explorers in the 1500's.  Sheep herding was a lucrative venture for many people in the Taos area during the 19th century.  Families kept large flocks that they would graze and then sell for meat or wool.  When the National Park and public land system was created it meant families had to attain grazing permits.  The Taos Plateau had numerous sheep grazing permits in the early ...
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13

Aug

2024

New Mexico BHA Volunteers Remove 6 miles of Fencing on the Marquez/ L Bar WMA

Summer thunderstorms built up on the horizon of the Marquez/L Bar Wildlife Management Area.  This years monsoon season has been a memorable one.  It's rare that the landscape of New Mexico stays this verdant green throughout the summer months.  Lush grama grass and abundant browse will make for healthy elk calves going into the winter months, but miles of barbed wire fencing pose a threat to their survival. On August 9 Backcountry Hunters and Anglers partnered with the New Mexico Department ...
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23

Jul

2024

Fence Modification on the Rio Grande Del Norte National Monument

                                On July 20, 2024, NM and CO BHA members, BLM staff, a Pheasants Forever intern and multiple non BHA members joined Habitat Stewardship Coordinator Bard Edrington V on the Rio Grande Del Norte National Monument in northern New Mexico to modify fencing. The goal of the event was to modify the existing fencing to be wildlife friendly for pronghorn, elk and mule deer. The current fencing separates grazing allotments and has a bottom strand that is ~10"-12" off the ...
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4

Jun

2024

New Mexico BHA: Fence Removal on the Rio Grande Del Norte National Monument

The Rio Grande Del Norte National Monument was established in 2013 and comprises 242,500 acres with an additional 3,700 acres recently added.  It lies in northern New Mexico and is bisected by the Rio Grande Gorge.  The area is fragmented by miles of fencing demarcating grazing allotments.  Many of these fences bisect important migration routes between mountain ranges.  This area has resident pronghorn, elk and deer but is also a very important wintering ground. ...
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