Craig Conley

Santa Fe, NM/Lindrith, NM

Cuba SWCD

Craig Conley grew up in Santa Fe and sought a degree in ecological restoration, driven by the desire to restore his family’s 1600-acre ranch in Lindrith, NM. He worked for the Quivira Coalition and later served on the board. He recently retired from teaching in the Forestry Program at New Mexico Highlands University and now consults with the U.S. Forest Service on organizational learning.

According to Conley, the biggest challenge he faces on the ranch is having no live water. This has Conley focusing his efforts on erosion control and retaining water to grow more plants and reduce bare ground. Erosion control structures include rock dams and Zuni bowls (Bill Zeedyk techniques) to change arroyo (dry creek or stream bed) hydrology. As a result of past grazing pressure, native winter browse species of shrubs and berries were missing in the system. Conley has been planting these species and learning to create the right conditions for them to survive and thrive without supplemental water. He is using a modified approach to the hugelkultural technique from permaculture to create sponges with organic material. This involves burying thinned trees and trimmings. Conley says that forests and woodlands in New Mexico, and commonly throughout the US, are overcrowded. With climate change, these forests and woodlands are becoming more susceptible to disease and pest pressure. The ranch is a natural pathway for elk in the late summer and into winter and the neighbor’s cattle use the ranch periodically.

Mowing with a brush hog (brush hogging) in some areas of sagebrush is an annual affair for Conley, and he says it has helped achieve more grass cover. His sagebrush has decreased from 80% to 50% with brush hog use. He’s noticed great improvements in biodiversity, particularly warm season grasses, and ground cover.

The next project on Conley’s list is experimenting with the use of a keyline plow and keyline design to manage water more efficiently on the landscape and retain as much moisture as possible from the increasingly infrequent but intense rainfall events.

Conley has used mini swales to good effect, and his approach to managing arroyos is slowing erosion and improving moisture retention. He is most surprised by the recovery of arroyos and the evolution of muddy stock tanks into clear water wetlands.

His least successful project has been plowing and seeding grasses. Conley says it was a waste of his resources and does not plan to try it again. He says the seeds needed are already there in the seed bank and that they just need the right conditions to flourish.

Updated August 2022