Joan Bybee

Mountainair, NM

Claunch-Pinto SWCD

In 1990, Joan Bybee began purchasing her ranch property near Mountainair, N.M., which lies within the Claunch-Pinto Soil and Water Conservation District. She runs a grass-fed operation and directly markets her beef to the public.

The environment where her property lies is considered fairly brittle, with most moisture coming from snowfall and summer monsoons after very strong spring winds. Much of the land had previously been farmed for pinto beans, which was typical from the 1920s to the 1950s. As a result, there was a great amount of topsoil lost due to wind and water erosion, as well as encroachment of brush (one-seed juniper). Some of the toughest land to restore in this area is former farmland.

Bybee began restoring the land in 2001, gradually increasing to 13 pastures of about 100 acres each. Additionally, in Bybee’s riparian restoration, she utilized techniques outlined by author Bill Zeedyk, formerly of the U.S. Forest Service, who is pioneering new methods of capturing water and limiting run-off. These include construction of one-rock dams, baffles and many other structures to capture and spread the rainfall, as well as to induce stream meandering. She also managed brush with clippers attached to a skid steer, which limits soil disturbance and costly spraying.

With her focus on building soil health through managed grazing, Bybee has seen increased diversity of plant life in general and grasses in particular. Where the ranch used to have almost a monoculture of blue grama, there are significant increases in sideoats grama, spike muhley, wolftail, vine mesquite, galleta, New Mexico feather grass, squirrel tail and western wheat grass. Through these changes, there is now better water infiltration, the growing season is lengthened, and her eight-month-old market calves are now 100 pounds heavier on average.

Posted May 2020.