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Heritage
Ranch Institute is a unique organization that is dedicated
to the principles of good stewardship of land and wildlife
resources, within an environment that functions as wildlife
preserves, sparse residential developments, and working
ranch operations.
We support research and education programs that contribute
to restoring ecosystems, promoting conservation of wildlife
and habitat, preserving history and traditions in the
Southwest, and understanding interactions between natural
and human communities. Heritage Ranch founder Jim Winder
and volunteers have worked on a number of environmental
improvement and education projects for the past 15 years,
and have incorporated as a nonprofit organization in the
past year to more formally conduct natural resource conservation,
research, remediation, and education activities.
Heritage Ranch recognizes that human presence is part
of the reality of modern ecosystems, and a major goal
of this organization is to understand the impact of human
occupation and economic activities on wildlife and land
resources.
Human activities such as agriculture, ranching, and residential
development have impacts on plant communities, land formations,
and water resources. We believe that good resource management
practices must include healthy ecosystems for wildlife
and humans, improving the quality of life for all species
occupying the same environment.
The Heritage Ranch Institute study area is on five ranches
in New Mexico that have a total of 140,000 acres, which
have been placed under a permanent conservation easement.
This includes 44,000 acres of private lands and 96,000
acres of public lands that are managed in cooperation
with the Natural Resource Conservation Service, Bureau
of Land Management, Forest Service, and the New Mexico
State land Office. The ranch locations are as follows:
» The Berrenda Creek Ranch (24,335 acres)
and Lake Valley Ranch (50,435 acres) are adjacent to the
Gila National Forest and are located in Sierra County
» The Corona and Cougar Mountain Ranches
(over 32,000 acres) are adjacent to the Cibola National
Forest near Albuquerque, and are in Torrance and Lincoln
Counties.
» The Deer Canyon Preserve (12,600
acres) overlooks Mountainair and is near Albuquerque.
This ranch is in Torrance County.
» The
Double Lightning Ranch (18,600 acres) is adjacent to the
Gila National Forest, and is in Luna and Sierra Counties.
On these ranches, Heritage Ranch Institute is working
to remediate critical habitats, to preserve pristine areas,
and to study the effects of limited human intrusion to
determine whether human habitation can be beneficial,
or at least benign, to wildlife and land resources. Our
planned research activities also include the preservation
and study of antiquities such as the prehistoric Pueblo
Indians ruins (Mimbres) that are scattered across the
ranches, as well as historic areas from mining activities.
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