Natural Resources Conservation

USDA NRCS

N E W M E X I C O

P R O S P E C T U S

2006

Helping People Help the Land

Technical Assistance

The Natural Resources Conservation Service provides 

technical assistance to district cooperators and other land 

users in the planning and application of conservation 

treatments. Technical assistance is the backbone of 

NRCS. It entails our qualified staff doing on-site visits to 

farms and ranches, and analyzing map and computer data 

to adequately assess land units and concerns. The agency 

uses a 9-Point Conservation Planning process to identify 

resources and their concerns, complete designs, and 

realize implementation - to achieve the solutions that are 

needed by the land and that particular farmer/rancher.

Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP) 

The Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program offers 

opportunities to landowners to improve and protect 

wildlife habitat on private and Tribal lands. NRCS 

approved $327,662 for 20 wildlife habitat improvement 

projects in FY2006. It should be noted that improvement 

of wildlife habitat is also frequently included as one of 

several objectives in EQIP projects, particularly where 

range improvement benefits both livestock and wildlife.

Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program 

(FRPP) 

The Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program (FRPP) 

is a voluntary program that helps farmers and ranchers 

keep their land in agriculture. Participating landowners 

agree not to convert their land to non-agricultural uses 

and to develop and implement a conservation plan for 

any highly erodible land. In FY2006 NRCS received 

three applications for preservation easements on 19 acres. 

Some $291,000 was awarded to the Corrales Farmland 

Preservation Program.

Grassland Reserve Program (GRP) 

NRCS and the Farm Services Agency share administrative 

responsibilities for the Grasslands Reserve Program, 

which is part of the 2002 Farm Bill. GRP provides 

technical and financial assistance to restore and conserve 

the functions and values of grasslands, land that contains 

forbs and shrubs. NRCS New Mexico is currently 

working to secure conservation easements on an 11,000 

acre ranch in Roosevelt County and 4,000 acre ranch in 

McKinley County.

Conservation Security Program (CSP)

CSP is a voluntary program authorized by the 2002 Farm 

Bill which rewards those farmers and ranchers meeting the 

very highest standards of conservation and environmental 

management on their working agricultural lands. NRCS 

is currently managing almost 100 contracts with prior year 

program participants in selected watershed. More work 

with the best-of-the-best is anticipated next fiscal year, 

once our national office selects target watersheds.

Farm Bill Specialists Project

NRCS has partnered with the State of New Mexico 

in a program whereby the State and NRCS provide 

50/50 funding for Farm Bill Specialists who assist New 

Mexico farmers and ranchers in accessing USDA Farm 

Bill Programs. These programs enable farmers and 

ranchers to get cost-share funding and technical support 

to install pipelines, make irrigation improvements, build 

fences, protect wildlife, and make other working land 

improvements. 

Flood Control and Dam Rehabilitation 

There are 101 larger flood control dams in New Mexico 

that NRCS has assisted with funding, and some are 

reaching their design life. NRCS is encouraging local 

sponsors to seek assessments of these older dams where 

appropriate, and participate in rehabilitation projects like 

that currently underway at the Piedre Liza Dam which 

protects the town of Bernillilo. 

Snow Survey and Water Supply Forecasts 

Snowpacks are surveyed every winter in New Mexico 

by NRCS to provide farmers, ranchers, and other water 

users with water supply forecasts they can use in decision 

making. NRCS field staff collect and analyze data on 

depth and water equivalent of the snowpack at mountain 

sites and estimate water availability, spring runoff, and 

summer stream flows. 

Soil Survey

NRCS is the agency that conducts the nation’s soil 

surveys. Many are now published on the web for our 

state’s many users. 

Irrigation Efficiencies 

While not a program as such, NRCS is continually 

striving to bring to New Mexico farmers the latest 

and best in efficient irrigation technically. The 

agency promotes efficient water use through such 

systems as micro-irrigation, high flow irrigation, and 

subsurface drip irrigation. Irrigation improvements 

are frequently one of the primary goals of EQIP.
Stacy Mills of the JC & Frances Mills Family 

Ptr. LTC in Carlsbad found EQIP’s pilot project 

allowed him to address his land units as a 

whole, regardless of what parcel was under 

what ownership.

Jimmy Richardson, from Richardson Cattle Company 

in Carlsbad, by comparison has used NRCS programs 

before. The collaborative conservation effort gave him, 

however, an opportunity to address his brush management 

needs in a much more coordinated, sound resource 

management way. Because of the collaborative option he 

was able to do brush management, improve water storage, 

and install a pipeline to a different pasture area. This will 

help in stock rotation, and enhance habitat for wildlife. 

The Carlsbad Soil & Water Conservation District and 

New Mexico Association of Conservation Districts are 

taking collaborative conservation yet another step further 

in the Carlsbad area. Uniting with BLM and landowners, 

they are rehabilitating abandoned oil field patches so 

they may be returned to production in concert with the 

surrounding land units. The soils are being cleaned and 

sites fenced so recovery can transpire.

The conservation districts and association, and 

federal agencies, are joining together to assist working 

ranches like the Mills’ and Richardson’s because it is 

these ranchers who are a mainstay locally and to the state. 

Richardson is important to the economy of Carlsbad where 

he sells his beef to a local meat market. Mills is involved 

with his kids in rodeo and 4-H. 

Collaborative conservation may be a new buzz word 

to Mills and Richardson, but it means a sincere effort on 

the part of many agency people to overcome barriers and 

bring conservation in a more efficient and effective way to 

natural land units in the American West.

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. 

Like most ranchers in the Carlsbad area, Mills runs an 

operation that has the West’s famous checkerboard pattern 

where up to 80 percent of the land is federally owned – in 

this case by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). 

What Mills needed was a program that allowed him to 

address his land units as a whole, regardless of what parcel 

was under what ownership. He found the answer in NRCS 

New Mexico’s collaborative conservation project that 

brought federal agencies and his private holdings together 

for unified conservation improvements on his ranching 

operation.

Under the FY2006 EQIP collaborative conservation 

effort, Mills was able to do brush management that was 

impacting the land’s productivity and crowding out natural 

grasses. Managing the brush was important not only to 

Mills’ cattle, but the large, indigenous deer population and 

local lesser prairie chickens. Early indications are that 

the collaborative brush management has an 80 percent 

effectiveness rate, and the Mills’ ranch can look forward 

to enhanced resources and resource management that 

respects the integrity of natural land units.

Program Summary

Environmental Quality Incentives Program 

(EQIP) 

The Environmental Quality Incentives Program is a 

nationwide voluntary conservation program administered 

by NRCS. The program’s major goals are twofold: 

enhancing agricultural production and optimizing 

environmental benefits. Through participation in 

EQIP agricultural producers may receive financial and 

technical assistance in developing and implementing 

conservation plans which include structural and 

management practices intended to treat a wide range of 

natural resource concerns. EQIP is by far the largest 

Farm Bill program financially. NRCS New Mexico 

approved $18.1 million in financial assistance to 

497 farmers and ranchers in FY2006 for cost-shared 

conservation improvements. Of this $18.1 million, 

$6.1 million was approved for 195 contracts for 

improvements on irrigated cropland. Also included 

in this funding was $1.05 obligated for environmental 

improvements at New Mexico dairies.

About NRCS

NRCS is the federal agency that is charged 

with bringing conservation to America’s private 

lands. Because it works with private lands, 

participation in its programs is voluntary on the 

part of landowners. The success of this working 

relationship is dependent on trust the agency has 

built through years of offering excellent technical 

expertise to farmers and ranchers who need that 

extra edge to solve conservation concerns.

NRCS provides technical and financial assistance 

to help working farms and ranches, and others, 

care for the land. The agency works on a variety 

of activities that include range management, 

irrigation efficiencies, farmland protection, riparian 

restoration, flood control, and acequias. To 

accomplish this work, NRCS frequently partners Since 1935, the Natural 

Resources Conservation 

Service (originally called the 

Soil Conservation Service) has 

provided leadership in helping 

America’s private land owners 

and managers conserve their 

soil, water, and other natural 

resources. NRCS employees 

provide technical assistance 

based on sound science 

and suited to a customer’s 

specific needs. We provide 

financial assistance for many 

conservation activities.

Access to our services 

typically begins with a visit 

to any of our 38 field offices 

located throughout New 

Mexico, and supported 

by Area Offices in Clovis, 

Carrizozo, Socorro, and 

Albuquerque. The State Office 

is located in Albuquerque, and 

a Plant Materials Center is in 

Los Lunas.

- Dennis Alexander

 State Conservationist

The USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.