The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation on May 19 announced $1.45 million in grants to help restore and sustain healthy rivers, streams, and grassland systems that provide important wildlife habitat in the Pecos Watershed and adjacent areas of New Mexico and Texas.

The Pecos Watershed Conservation Initiative established in 2017 is an innovative public-private partnership that leverages resources from corporate partners including Apache Corporation, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Corteva Agriscience, Marathon Oil, Occidental, Shell and XTO Energy, an ExxonMobil subsidiary, as well as from federal agencies, including the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in New Mexico, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service in New Mexico and Texas.

ConocoPhillips, Corteva Agriscience and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management New Mexico state office are the PWCI’s newest funding partners, having joined the PWCI in the past year.

The seven grants announced last week will be matched by $3 million from the organizations receiving funding, for a total conservation impact of more than $4.4 million. These grants build on more than $1.8 million awarded through the program in March 2020 to eight projects that leveraged $3.7 million in match to create an on-the-ground impact of more than $5.5 million.

“Now in its fourth year of grant-making, the Conservation Initiative continues to strengthen the natural landscape of the Trans-Peco, and to help its native species,” said Jeff Trandahl, executive director and CEO of NFWF. “In the past two years, new grantees and funding partners have expanded our reach, deepened our knowledge of the ecosystem, and made possible landscape-scale projects that will enhance the streams, springs and grasslands of the Pecos River Watershed.”

The projects supported by the seven grants will address key conservation opportunities, including grassland and riparian habitat restoration that will directly benefit species of conservation concern. Projects that have a grassland focus seek to improve the quality and connectivity of native Chihuahuan Desert grasslands by improving habitat for pronghorn and migratory grassland birds.

In a joint statement, the eight corporate members said, “Our people are on the ground every day in the Pecos, living and working, so it is essential that the initiative’s investments provide real benefits to local communities, landscapes and wildlife.”

The program also seeks to improve the quality and connectivity of stream and riparian habitat by restoring aquatic connectivity, naturalizing stream channel configuration, controlling invasive species, and improving in-stream and riparian habitat. These projects will improve habitat for Pecos pupfish, Pecos gambusia, and other native aquatic species.

"Through the cooperation of our many partners, collaborative conservation and restoration will continue to occur across the diverse landscapes of the Pecos District, addressing both riparian corridors and upland habitats," said BLM New Mexico Acting Associate State Director Melanie Barnes. "Controlling invasive species brings restored grasslands and improved water quality and availability and modifying restrictive fencing brings unobstructed movement across these landscapes for both large and small game animals.”