For the twelve years since I bought it, we’ve called the 1200-plus high mesa acres south of Las Vegas, New Mexico, Apache Mesa Ranch. It was the name it came with. But traveling around this lost and forgotten section of the state, we soon realized that everything is called Apache something: Apache Springs, Apache Road… Apaches and Comanches did rove this area until—like all the native tribes—they were murdered or driven out. The name seemed common to the point of confusion.
As we’re in the long, slow and complicated process of converting the ranch to a conservation easement, it seems the right time to rename it, so from now on, it’s South Pass Ranch. And indeed there was once a dirt road leading down the incredibly steep and rocky side of the mesa to the fertile valley of the Gallinas River hundreds of feet below. Since the Santa Fe Trail passes close by, travelers might have driven their wagons up to our mesa and this may explain why there was once a small settlement of rock houses—the ruins are everywhere—and a school.
There are many benefits to putting land in conservation easements, and it is happening more frequently all over the country, first of all to limit the rampaging commercial development that reflects our out of control population growth. The part of that growth that can be attributed to immigrants from the south is the part of the growth that makes our lives possible, since all the heavy and menial work here is done by Spanish speakers. If, as some advise, we close the southern border, all of us privileged folk will have to start digging and tending gardens and ranches and cleaning our houses. Not a welcome prospect.
But back to conservation easements. Here the process is led by the Santa Fe Conservation Trust which overseas thousands of acres, many near our ranch. The Trust doesn’t own these lands, but they do monitor and supervise to be sure wise standards are maintained—no chemical sprays and fertilizers, for example, no overgrazing, no wholesale cutting of trees.
The Trust also offers the services of its trained archeologist and botanist, and their studies of the ranch will offer us insight into its history, leading I hope to more posts here.
In order to complete the legal papers, a survey is needed and a complex tax issue resolved as well as a large donation made to the Trust to cover supervision and possible legal issues. When I put Wolf Pen Mill Farm into conservation easements thirty years ago with River Fields, a Louisville not-for-profit, conservation easements had not yet been challenged in court which they are sure to be at some point by heirs trying to increase their fortunes by developing open land. And so the need for a legal fund to oppose such efforts.
Crucial worker at South Pass Ranch
We hope to graze twelve mama cows and calves, probably Red Angus who do better here with heat and bugs than the more familiar Black Angus. All will go to a local meat processor and be marketed as organic beef without the use of feedlots where cattle are sometimes bloated with excessive water to increase their weight and their price. Our cattle will have to be moved frequently to give the grass a rest which means electric wire that can be rolled up and moved around between fixed metal posts.
If we can manage a few chickens and a modest vegetable garden, I will be delighted. All depends on how severe the changes brought by climate disruption are going to be. We had a blessed and unexpected reprieve this summer with moderate heat and late afternoon monsoons and the grass at the ranch is now knee-high. But there is no way to predict when the drought will return or how bad it will be.
Please wish us good luck with South Pass Ranch.
Good luck with South Pass Ranch. I was once asked to evaluate an investment prospect that involved moving a lot of Holstein cows to a milk production site. The investor declined to go ahead on my advice which raised three possible snags: First, a University of Illinois study showed that cows stop lactating for an extensive period after being transported in trucks; second, cows also stop lactating until a pecking order is established defining the number one ranking cow on down to the bottom ranking cow (humans have no part in how cows rank themselves); and third, ambient electricity in the ground is often another stopper of lactating. The success of the venture depended on the cows becoming very productive soon after being sited, and my three snags cast major doubt on the prospects.
Since your ranch is somewhat close to Las Vegas, the area may be conducive to taking risks—but probably I am just raining on your parade. Good luck is in order for sure.
Sallie,
We are your neighbors at Apache Mesa. Our ranching operations include approximately 26,000 acres that we plan to place into a land trust. My husband is a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine that has been involved in wildlife habitat restoration for the last 24 years. We were so glad to hear of your decision to place your ranch in a land trust.
Buena suerte,
Kathleen