Bringing Bird-Friendly Ranching to the Southwest

Albuquerque, New Mexico (June 10, 2026) — The Nationwide Audubon Society’s Audubon Conservation Ranching program now reaches the Southwestern United States with the hires of Nick Beauregard, Ariel Léger, and Isaiah Meza. Working alongside livestock producers in Arizona and New Mexico, the staff is keen to advance bird-friendly administration practices at ranches throughout the area.  

Employed because the Senior Program Supervisor for Audubon Southwest’s Working Lands initiative, Beauregard has over 15 years of expertise in utilized conservation analysis, stewardship, and group engagement within the Southwest. A resident of Patagonia, Arizona, Beauregard is a lifelong birder and naturalist, with a PhD in biology from Northern Arizona College.  

“My targets within the Southwest are centered on implementing a program that delivers significant, measurable outcomes for chook habitat in addition to communities who depend on the working lands financial system,” Beauregard stated. “Conservation ranching practices which can be tailor-made to our distinctive arid circumstances have been proven to enhance grassland well being and make ranches extra resilient to environmental stressors like local weather change and drought.” 

Léger and Meza, Program Managers in Arizona and New Mexico, respectively, carry experience in soil well being, rangeland ecology, and hydrogeology to Audubon’s Working Lands staff. Lifelong New Mexico resident Meza has a grasp’s in environmental science and coverage from Northern Arizona College. Léger, who earned a grasp’s in environmental science on the College of Arizona, has lived in Arizona since early 2018. 

“We’re rolling out this program with a substantial amount of humility—in search of to study from ranchers, farmers, and land managers—about how one can make this system work effectively for this new and distinctive area,” Léger stated. “Conservation ranching could be a highly effective instrument to guard open landscapes and rangeland ecosystems throughout the Southwest.”  

Since 2017, Audubon Conservation Ranching has been partnering with livestock producers to implement science-based grazing practices that profit birds and ranching operations. At present, greater than 150 ranches and practically 4.5 million acres are licensed as chook pleasant. Meat bearing the ‘Audubon Licensed Fowl-Pleasant Land’ seal is offered in additional than 2,000 retail shops throughout the US.  

“We expanded this system into the Southwest as a result of the area’s grasslands are each ecologically important and below heavy stress from drought, fragmentation, invasive vegetation, and improvement,” stated Thomas Schroeder, Audubon Conservation Ranching Partnerships Supervisor. “The way forward for many chook species and native grassland ecosystems relies upon closely on how grazing lands are managed.” 

Ranching in Arizona and New Mexico presents distinctive challenges as a result of its grasslands are so weak to desertification and degradation. Ecosystems with wholesome soils and perennial grasses enhance water infiltration, scale back erosion, and assist ranches stand up to drought. 

“The Southwest has unimaginable potential for conservation and restoration since there are substantial areas of contiguous habitat that haven’t been misplaced to improvement,” Meza stated. “Water shortage is the first concern for a lot of producers, conservationists, and managers alike.” 

Audubon’s program is at the moment targeted on southern New Mexico and southeast Arizona’s Chihuahuan Grasslands—critically necessary habitat for breeding birds comparable to Cassin’s Sparrows and Chihuahuan Meadowlarks, and wintering species together with Mountain Plovers and Chestnut-collared Longspurs. Riparian areas, springs, and groundwater-fed wetlands known as ciénegas are essential habitats for threatened species just like the Western Yellow-billed Cuckoo. 

Help from the Nationwide Fish and Wildlife Basis and the Pure Assets Conservation Service made Audubon Conservation Ranching’s enlargement into Arizona and New Mexico attainable. Over the following three years, the staff plans to certify at the very least 30 ranches and a minimal of 100,000 acres, whereas concurrently constructing partnerships with ranchers and the group. 

“The Southwest is a mosaic of personal, public, and tribal lands, with boundaries that usually don’t conform to pure ecological transitions,” Beauregard stated. “Administration success depends closely on sturdy relationships with many various stakeholders representing numerous priorities.” 

For extra details about Audubon Conservation Ranching in Arizona and New Mexico, please contact Nick Beauregard at Nick.Beauregard@Audubon.org. 

About Audubon Conservation Ranching 

Audubon Conservation Ranching companions with ranchers to maintain wholesome grasslands, plentiful birdlife, and resilient rural communities. By means of our bird-friendly land certification and science-based strategy, we empower land stewards to boost habitat, enhance soil well being and water high quality, and strengthen the connection between conservation and ranching. By buying merchandise from Audubon Licensed Fowl-Pleasant Land, shoppers develop into conservationists, serving to defend America’s grasslands and the birds, wildlife, and those who rely on them. For extra data, go to www.audubon.org/ranching.