[Official Roster] [What is a Conservation District?] [History] [What Do Districts Do?] [How Many Districts Are There?] [Annual Report]

Claunch-Pinto Conservation District

The Claunch-Pinto Soil and Water Conservation District was organized on September 17, 1941. That day the District was issued a Certificate of Organization from the State of New Mexico signed by the Secretary of State, Mrs. Jessie M. Gonzales. Part of the West Torrance District was consolidated with the Claunch-Pinto District in 1967.

The District consists of 1,291,779 acres located approximately in the center of New Mexico. The District encompasses the southern part of Torrance County, the northeastern part of Socorro County, the northwestern part of Lincoln County, and the southern tip of Valencia County. Towns and villages located in the District are Abo, Claunch, Corona, Manzano, Mountainair and Punta de Agua. Mountainair is the largest municipality with approximately twelve hundred people.

The goal of the District is to promote use of conservation practices and resource management methods to enhance watershed health and productivity. Conservation practices may include brush management, fencing, or water development, range seedings and water diversions. Resource management techniques may include planned grazing systems, and/or proper grazing use.

Topography in the District is diverse. High mountainous areas include the Gallinas and Manzano Mountains. The areas around Gran Quivira, South of Mountainair, and Corona are composed of rough foothills. The remainder of the District is gently rolling hills, mesas, and grasslands.

The District is composed of 88% private and State land. The remaining 12% is land administered by the US Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management and US Park Service.

A board of five elected and two appointed officials governs the District. Elections are held in September at the annual meeting. The term of office for elected officials is three years and appointed officials are appointed on an annual basis.

Funding for District operations is obtained from four sources:

   1. State of New Mexico budget appropriation
   2. County mill levy taxation in portions of Socorro, Lincoln, and Torrance Counties
   3. County budget appropriation
   4. Grants

The District maintains an active membership and/or liaison with the following:

     State Highway Department
     NM State Forestry
     NM State Land Office
     NM Game and Fish Department
     Bureau of Land Management
     United States Department of Agriculture
     Natural Resources Conservation Service
     Farm Services
     NM Soil & Water Conservation Bureau
     HUB Resource Conservation and Development
     South Central Mountain Resource Conservation and Development
     County Commissioners
     NM Agricultural Extension Service
     NM Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts
     National Association of Conservation Districts
     NM Cattle Growers
     Farm Bureau
     Cowbelles
     State and Federal Legislature
     County Assessors
     Ag Committees
     Public School System
     Town of Mountainair & Corona
     US Forest Service 

OFFICIAL ROSTER - FY 2007

What is a Conservation District?

Conservation districts are local governmental subdivisions established under state law to carry out a program for the conservation, use and development of soil, water and related resources.  Districts are resource management agencies, coordinating and implementing resource and environmental programs at the local level in cooperation with federal and state agencies.

History

Conservation districts had their beginning in the 1930s when Congress, in response to national concern over mounting erosion, floods and the sky-blackening dust storms that swept across the country, enacted the Soil Conservation Act of 1935.  The act stated for the first time a national policy to provide a permanent program for the control and prevention of soil erosion, and directed the Secretary of Agriculture to establish the Soil Conservation Service to implement this policy.  The conservation district concept was developed to enlist the cooperation of landowners and occupiers in carrying out the programs authorized by the act.

To encourage local participation in the program, President Roosevelt sent all state governors A Standard State Soil Conservation Districts Law, with a recommendation for enactment of legislation along its lines.  On March 3, 1937, Arkansas became the first state to adopt a law modeled on the Standard Act.  On August 4, 1937, the first conservation district, the Brown Creek Soil Conservation District, was established in North Carolina.  Interestingly enough, the Brown Creek District included the birthplace of Dr. Hugh Hammond Bennett, the first Chief of the Soil Conservation Service – commonly referred to as the father of soil conservation.  By 1938, twenty-seven states had followed suit, and by the late 1940s, all fifty states had adopted similar legislation.  Districts laws were adopted in the 1960s by Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, and in the 1980s by the District of Columbia, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands.

What Do Districts Do?

Districts work with landowners, land managers, local government agencies, and other local interests in addressing a broad spectrum of resource concerns:  erosion control, flood prevention, water conservation and use, wetlands, ground water, water quality and quantity, nonpoint source pollution, forestland protection, wildlife, recreation, waste water management and community development.

How Many Districts Are There?

In 2002, there are 47 conservation districts in the State of New Mexico.  Collectively, the 47 districts are represented by the New Mexico Association of Conservation Districts.  Nationwide, there are approximately 3,000 conservation districts, the number varying from time to time as a result of the combination, division, or the other restructuring of district boundaries.  These districts, identified in some states as soil conservation districts, conservation districts, natural resources conservation districts, natural resource districts or resource conservation district, cover 98 percent of the privately owned land in the fifty states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Guam.

Annual Report

Our 2007 Annual Report is available in PDF format.