ABOUT TAOS LAND TRUST

Taos Land Trust was founded in 1988 by a group of community volunteers who watched a beautiful tract of open land get sold, just because the owners had no other options available to them but to pay exorbitant inheritance taxes. This group wanted to give local families another alternative. By saving the extraordinary landscape of northern New Mexico, these visionary community members were also helping save the distinctive qualities of our area that make this truly a "land of enchantment." Since then, we have been helping landowners create voluntary conservation easements and using other creative approaches to permanently protect their family lands, working with other organizations to buy and protect land for the public — including the 2,580-acre Taos Valley Overlook and the 14,344-acre Ute Mountain property — and staying involved in long-range land conservation planning at the local, county, and state levels. Overall, we have permanently protected over 24,000 acres of irrigated farms and ranchlands, wildlife habitat, and beautiful open landscapes throughout northern New Mexico.

The dramatic and enchanting landscape of this region is in part the product of a long relationship between land and people, imprinted by a thousand years of Pueblo Indian culture and 400 years of the Indo-Hispano culture. Our work helps protect both the natural landscape and the cultural landscape, biodiversity and cultural diversity. To address a broader range of conservation and cultural issues unique to our corner of the world, Taos Land Trust helped found the De la Tierra a la Cosecha (From Earth to Harvest) partnership with the Taos County Economic Development Corporation and the Taos Valley Acequia Association, to sustain the land, water, food and culture of northern New Mexico.

Today Taos Land Trust is one of the best established and most experienced land trusts in New Mexico, serving nine counties across the northern part of the state.

Download the Taos Land Trust brochure here.