Sid Goodloe of Capitan has been selected as the recipient of the New Mexico Leopold Conservation Award.
Given in honor of renowned conservationist Aldo Leopold, the prestigious award recognizes farmers, ranchers, and forestland owners who inspire others with their dedication to land, water, and wildlife habitat management on private, working lands.
Goodloe has blazed his own trail at Carrizo Valley Ranch for more than six decades and was practicing “regenerative ranching” before the phrase was coined. He was recently presented with the $10,000 award at the New Mexico Association of Conservation Districts’ conference in Albuquerque.
As with most innovators, his ideas were not always initially welcomed with open arms by the scientific, academic, and ranching communities. Yet many of Goodloe’s skeptics would later adopt his conservation practices.
Goodloe would make his own mark as a visionary in removing Pino and Juniper trees, and riparian area restoration. His management practices have yielded a showcase of wildlife habitat and plant diversity at elevations between 6,000 to 7,500 feet.
Erosion turned abandoned homestead roads that crisscross Carrizo Valley Ranch into gullies. Goodloe’s steps to prevent erosion once drew opposition from downstream landowners who depended upon the silt-laden runoff water to irrigate their hayfields. After two years of litigation, they realized that Goodloe’s work was recharging the aquifers that furnished their well water.
After 66 years of ecosystem improvement, the future of Carrizo Valley Ranch is very important to Goodloe. A conservation easement on the ranch guarantees it will provide open space and be financially unencumbered in perpetuity. Sid and Cheryl Goodloe plan to pass the ranch on as a protected property that will provide a livestock, wildlife and recreation opportunities for their grandchildren.
