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Alisa Ogden Receives ‘Restore New Mexico’ Award

Albuquerque - Alisa Ogden, president of the New Mexico Cattle Growers Association, was presented a Restore New Mexico Award today at the organization’s annual meeting in Albuquerque for her work to restore rangelands on her family’s two ranches in Eddy County, and to enlist other ranchers in the program.

      “Alisa has made significant contributions to grassland restoration on her grazing allotments and on adjoining state and private lands,” said Jesse Juen, Associate State Director for the Bureau of Land Management. “She’s also helped involve other ranchers in Restore New Mexico, a partnership of agencies, landowners and other entities that depend on individuals like Alisa to restore degraded landscapes throughout our state.”

      Ogden’s family ranch and farm operation in the Black River area goes back to 1918.  Alisa and her family have worked continuously to improve the health of the land.  Ogden partnered with the BLM on one of the earliest prescribed fires to control invasive shrubs by the Carlsbad Field Office in the mid-1980s.  Since then several other burns have been conducted on her allotments; Ogden supplied materials and provided growing season rest for two seasons after the burns.  More recently she helped fund the removal of salt cedar along the Black River to restore riparian habitat. 

      Ogden’s commitment to brush and noxious weeds treatments on her ranch is viewed as a model for use by other ranchers in New Mexico.  Joint efforts to control brush on Ogden’s ranches have targeted invasive species such as creosote, tarbush and African Rue. 

      In the past several years, Ms. Ogden contributed over $20,000 toward restoration efforts on two federal grazing allotments.  Working with the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the New Mexico Association of Conservation Districts, Carlsbad Soil and Water Conservation District and BLM, Ogden participated in restoration efforts on 10,500 acres to improve watershed conditions and habitat for wildlife.

      “Alisa has been an outstanding president of the New Mexico Cattle Growers’ Association,” said Bert Ancell, the group’s president-elect from Bell Ranch, New Mexico.  “As a member of several industry and civic organizations, she’s been an exceptional spokesperson for our organization and has led the way for others to join in restoring New Mexico’s rangelands.”

      Alisa has built erosion control structures on her allotment to protect soils and vegetation in the Black River watershed.  Brush treatments on Ogden’s ranches includes work that will improve grasslands and wildlife habitat, contribute to improved infiltration and groundwater recharge, improve the biological diversity of the sites by changing the composition of invasive shrubs to grasses and forbs – and greatly reduce surface erosion.

      The BLM and other participants in Restore New Mexico recognize that degraded habitat, erosion and the spread of invasive plants have resulted from decades of human impacts and natural ecological processes.  Naturally occurring fires have been largely excluded from the landscape and there has been a dramatic shift from desert grasslands with scattered shrubs to a vegetative community extensively dominated by shrubs, which in some cases comprise 95 percent or more of the total plant composition.

      The result of shrub-dominated landscapes is a significant increase in the amount of bare ground.  This and other factors have significant negative impacts on wildlife habitat, and increase the land’s susceptibility to accelerated erosion, especially during periods of drought or during flash flood events. 

     For these reasons, partnerships have been developed between the BLM, state, local and other federal agencies, with private landowners, the energy industry and conservation groups to restore New Mexico landscapes.  Since 2005 almost 900,000 acres of land have been restored; next year “Restore” partners will mark their one-millionth acre.

     “The success we’re having with Restore New Mexico is due to the relationships we’ve built with agencies, landowners, conservation groups, the energy industry and other partners in this effort,” added Juen.  “The trust, respect, and common focus of our partners are exemplified by Alisa Ogden.  We’re proud to present this award in recognition of the contributions Alisa has made and the example she provides to all of our partners for their participation and support.”

- BLM -