Conservation agreement will protect elk migration route in northern New Mexico

Dec. 17—A conservation agreement between one northern New Mexico landowner and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation means that elk and mule deer will be guaranteed 3,537 acres of winter range in perpetuity.

Landowner Stan Ruyle made a voluntary agreement with RMEF to keep the Amargo Canyon property from getting divided and to prevent future development on the property, so that the land can remain in a natural state and continue to provide a good wintering ground for elk long into the future.

"It's a win-win for the elk and all the animals — the bear, the elk, the deer, everything that's out there — keeping it in big tracts of land so that the elk can reproduce for many years," Ruyle said.

Ruyle has been a hunter all his life, and the conservation agreement fit with his own plans for the property — to keep the land in a natural state and pass it on through his family instead of reselling it.

"The easement probably hurts the resale value," he said, "but I wasn't intending on selling it."

Fifty to 75 elk live on the property year round, but in the winter large herds of elk migrate south from Colorado to find food. The land is part of a major migration route for elk and mule deer.

"It's amazing to see big groups of elk coming through there and grazing through," Ruyle said.

The property goes up to 9,000 feet in elevation, said Jennifer Doherty, RMEF director of lands and access, and offers aspens, open meadows and coniferous forests where elk and mule deer can forage for food. Ruyle plants food plots in late summer and fall for the wild animals who roam the property and has cleaned out some of the ponds so there will be more water available.

"Then we limit the cattle operation so that there's always adequate grass this time of year for the elk," Ruyle said.

Southwest of Amargo Canyon is the 10,950-acre W.A. Humphries State Wildlife Management Area. To the east is the 20,209-acre Edward Sargent Wildlife Management Area. U.S. Forest Service land lies to the northeast, and there are Jicarilla Apache Nation lands to the south. So, the conservation agreement protects a property that connects large areas of protected land.

"Whenever you're talking about migrating wildlife, which is really very unique to the United States and to a select other few areas, you need those huge areas and that connectivity," Doherty said. "So, when we look at project areas to invest in, we want to make sure we're not just protecting that local spot, that specific piece of habitat, but connecting it to the way the wildlife uses it."

In 1912, there were an estimated 12 elk in New Mexico, according to a Department of Game and Fish brochure. By 1934, there were 4,000 thanks to reintroduction efforts and limitations on hunting. Recent estimates put the elk population at 104,000 across the state.

The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation was founded in 1984 by hunters who wanted to preserve the future of the North American elk. By 1987, the foundation had its first project in New Mexico. The foundation has over 240 conservation agreements across the country with private landowners, said Doherty.