Navajo Code Talker Honors NRCS Personnel

Producer Joe Vandever’s Navajo name is ta-de-yhi which means ‘going places’. Little did this child of the land know when he was born west of Grants, New Mexico in 1923 that he was going to play an important role in United States history, as a Navajo Code Talker in World War II.

Navajo Code Talker Honors NRCS Personnel (2MB)

"Basin Absolutely Did Its Job"

Basin Absolutely Did Its Job (782KB)

Locally Led Work Group Acts to Save Playas

Locally Led Work Group Acts to Save Playas (782KB)

Cleaning Up Yesterday's Trash

Cleaning Up Yesterday's Trash (782KB)

Conservationist Creates Awesome Ranch

Wanting the best for his family's ranch near Mora, New Mexico, Mike Reardon has embarked on a conservation journey. He has employed many types of conservation practices, including using controlled fires to eradicate invasive brush and trees, planting native species that attract and support wildlife, and streambed restoration. 

Conservationist Creates Awesome Ranch (818KB)

Tallpot and Hydrogel Technologies Team Up in Semi-Desert Climate

Planting shrubs alongside a semi-desert road near Santa Fe, then only watering them twice and expecting them to thrive sounds like an impossible mission. Yet, that is exactly what the group of innovators at the NRCS Los Lunas Plant Materials Center are doing.

Tallpot and Hydrogel Technologies Team Up in Semi-Desert Climate (818KB)

Instilling "Tried and True" into Technology

NRCS has a reputation for bringing "tried and true" technology to New Mexico's farms and ranches. One of NRCS New Mexico's recent innovations currently undergoing a real-world trial is a plastic-lined steel water tank with a false bottom.

Instilling "Tried and True" into Technology (614KB)

Study Yielding Initial Answers to Water Depletions in Sacramentos

The Otero Soil & Water Conservation District (SWCD) is tackling water depletion problems in a 750 square mile area of south-central New Mexico, and instituting a scientific approach to watershed management that they and others can use.

Study Yielding Initial Answers to Water Depletions in Sacramentos (695KB)

Conservationists Nearly Double Water Flow in the Abo Arroyo

The eradication of salt cedar and the reintroduction of native plants to the banks of the Abo Arroyo have initiated the return of a healthy landscape. This conservation effort is significant because the Abo Arroyo, as a tributary of the Rio Grande is a seed source for both invasive plants, like salt cedar, and beneficial vegetation for large areas downstream. 

Conservationists Nearly Double Water Flow in the Abo Arroyo (695KB)

Dam Rehab Achieves Goals

Through a partnership between local, state and federal entities, the Piedra Liza Dam, originally built in the late 1950s, has been brought up to modern-day standards. This successful project will ensure the continued protection of the land and people of the Bernalillo area from potentially devastating flooding.

Dam Rebab Achieves Goals (923KB)

PMC Makes Rancher's Crop a Mission

Striving to making more drought-tolerant grasses commercially available to New Mexico ranchers has become one of the many pursuits of the Plant Materials Center (PMC) in Los Lunas. 

PMC Makes Rancher's Crop a Mission (308KB)

Sometimes it Takes Tweaking

As New Mexico’s innovative farmers and ranchers seek new and better ways to conserve our natural resources, resounding successes do not always happen the first time. Sometimes it takes tweaking.

Sometimes it Takes Tweaking (308KB)

Warm Pecan Pie has Roots in Deming

When you are sitting around the kitchen table after supper immersed in that delectable piece of warm pecan pie dripping with melting ice cream, think of Rick Holdridge and subsurface drip irrigation.

Warm Pecan Pie has Roots in Deming (757KB)

Old Ways Die Hard

The Los Lunas Plant Materials Center staff finds a challenge in spreading the word about new riparian restoration technology that runs counter to traditional wisdom.

Old Ways Die Hard (750KB)

Sichler Farms Produce Introduces Subsurface Drip Irrigation to Socorro County

Sichler Farms Produce is pioneering drip irrigation systems in their operation this spring near San Antonio.

Sichler Farms Produce Introduces Subsurface Drip Irrigation to Socorro County (750KB)

Weeds Meet Their Match in Southeastern New Mexico

Multiple agencies formed the Cooperative Weed Management Area to establish countywide organizations to tackle week infestation.

Weeds Meet Their Match in Southeastern New Mexico (215KB)

Deming Producer Sold On Subsurface Drip Irrigation

Kevin Penn is using 30 to 40 percent less water on his crops due to drip irrigation systems.

Deming Producer Sold On Subsurface Drip Irrigation (452KB)

Dad Had the Paperwork Everywhere

Dad Had the Paperwork Everywhere (417KB)

So You’re Thinking About an Easement Program

To some, conservation easements are controversial while to other landowners they answer a strong desire. Seth Fiedler, NRCS resource conservationist, recently took a minute to explain a little about the Farm and Ranchland Protection Program (FRPP).

So You're Thinking About an Easement Program (374KB)

Solar Smarts Turn Forest Area into Prime Habitat

Solar panels that power a water well are making a portion of the Smokey Bear District in the Lincoln National Forest habitable during dry periods for wild turkey, mule deer, elk, and an occasional javelina thanks, in part, to the efforts of the South Central Mountain RC&D, their NRCS RC&D coordinator, and the U.S. Forest Service .

Solar Smarts Turn Forest Area into Prime Habitat (646KB)

Brine Rehabilitation Poised to Revolutionize

If it would cost you 30 cents a barrel to reinject unusable oil brine back into the ground or 10 cents to clean it up and irrigate a pasture, what would you do?

Brine Rehabilitation Poised to Revolutionize (326KB)

NRCSers On Mission To Spread Word

The Los Lunas Plant Materials Center is on a mission to spread the word about riparian planting techniques that work. Their recent demonstration illustrates their efforts to spread the technology they have developed over the past two decades.

NRCSers on Mission to Spread Word (308KB)

Bunchgrass Demo Launched

Giant sacaton is a native warm season bunchgrass that can reach heights in excess of seven feet and more than four feet wide. The PMC has been evaluating giant sacaton since 1999, by installing windstrip plantings to help protect areas from wind erosion.

Bunchgrass Demo Launched (1,024KB)

Restoring Grasslands

Grassland/watershed restoration in the Mangus Watershed meant prescribed burns and erosion control structures – lots of them. The USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service assisted throughout the process with technical expertise and some funding.

Restoring Grasslands (254KB)

Takes One to Know One

The old adage “It takes one to know one” couldn’t be truer when it comes to farmers. It takes a farmer to know what a farmer really needs. That is why when a farmer like Jimmie Fisher from Aztec speaks up and tells his neighbors how conservation improvements have worked for him, people listen.

Takes One to Know One (332KB)

Flipping the Power Switch

Do you want to save energy on your farm? You bet – who doesn’t? Do you have an operation that uses irrigation pumps, a greenhouse, or refrigeration?

Flipping the Power Switch (214KB)

Awkward Buzz Word Yields Answers

Collaborative conservation may be a new and somewhat awkward buzz word in New Mexico conservation circles, but to Stacy Mills of the JC & Frances Mills Family Ptr. LTC of Carlsbad it means finally being able to access the benefits of USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) in a way that makes sense for his operation.

Award Buzz Word Yields Answers (219KB)

Cowboy Ingenuity Aids Lovington Rancher

Southwestern ranchers know the need for being inventive and finding practical solutions for issues on the range.

Cowboy Ingenuity Aids Lovington Rancher (127KB)

Conservation Proves Itself at Cuba Fire

Don Moore's continuing drive to improve his rangeland near Cuba, New Mexico is attributed to restricting a wildfire that would otherwise have spread into the Los Pinos area.

Conservation proves itself at Cuba Fire (444KB)

WHIP Used to Capitalize on Fly-Zone in Tome

Andrew Hautzinger's small farm south of Tome and east of Los Lunas, New Mexico is in a major fly-zone for many migratory birds.

WHIP used to capitalize on fly-zone fire (662KB)

Entrepreneur Eyes PMC Products

Giant Sacaton was originally developed by the Plant Material Center for non-woody windbreaks in area vegetable fields. Breeding by the PMC has made a dramatic difference – resulting in a large grass that surpasses Pampas grass in stature and is much bigger and showier than its unimproved native forms.

Entrepreneur eyes Plant Materials Center products (476KB)