Partnering with the 5,000 acre Wind River Ranch in Mora County, on the High Plains of northeastern New Mexico (about 16 miles north of Las Vegas, NM), near the foothills of the Southern Rocky Mountains, we will work to create an expansive refuge for wild buffalo, black-tailed prairie dogs, antelope and other native wildlife in northeastern New Mexico that will become a complete, functioning shortgrass prairie ecosystem. Plains Youth InterACTION and Restoration Not Incarceration will assist. Mora County is among the poorest in the nation, with 22.4% of residents living below the poverty line. San Miguel County has similar challenges. This project will protect native High Plains wildlife entering into the “extinction spiral” while also offering an economic and cultural driver for the region based on green restoration and sustainability.
Goals:
- Establish a GPRC satellite office in Las Vegas, New Mexico.
- Formalize the partnership with Wind River Ranch.
- In the first year of this effort, local rural Hispanic, Indian and Anglo youth will build one-rock dams on select arroyos to repair erosion, and help prepare the ground for expansion of native prairie dog reintroduction.
