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New Mexico Rare Plant Conservation Strategy

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The New Mexico Rare Plant Conservation Strategy

The New Mexico Rare Plant Conservation Strategy is an integral part of the State of New Mexico’s Endangered Plant Program, the only program within the state government that focuses on rare plant conservation and operates statewide.

The Strategy is focused on 235 rare and endangered plant species in New Mexico, including 109 species that only occur in New Mexico. The overall goal of the New Mexico Rare Plant Conservation Strategy is to protect and conserve New Mexico’s rare and endangered plant species and their habitats through collaborative partnerships between stakeholders and interested parties to aid and improve the conservation and management of rare plant species and to avoid federal listing.

The New Mexico Rare Plant Conservation Scorecard

The New Mexico Rare Plant Conservations Scorecard provides an analysis of the current conservation status of the 235 Strategy rare plants including threats, degree of protection, and actions needed to conserve species (management actions, inventories, monitoring, taxonomic work, etc.). The primary use of the Scorecard is to help managers and researchers identify and prioritize target species for protection, conservation and management actions, including surveys, monitoring, and filling of data gaps. In addition, the scorecard can be used to quickly identify documented and potential threats and assess the status of rare plant species. The Scorecard can be sorted in a variety of ways to help establish a target list, including sorting by land ownership, agency status, conservation ranks, threats, ecoregion, or conservation actions needed. More information on the Scorecard can be found in the New Mexico Rare Plant Conservation Strategy.

Important Plant Areas of New Mexico

Important Plant Areas (IPAs) are specific places across New Mexico that support either a high diversity of sensitive plant species or are the last remaining locations of New Mexico’s most endangered plants. New Mexico has identified 133 IPAs with IPA-Biodiversity Ranks that can be used to identify high priority areas for management actions. More information on IPAs can be found in the New Mexico Rare Plant Conservation Strategy. GIS shapefiles and associated species lists will be made available to land managers and conservation partners on request to the Forestry Division (erika.rowe@emnrd.nm.gov). Using IPAs as the template, the long-range goal is to identify and develop Conservation Opportunity Areas that integrate biodiversity value with management and conservation options.

Important Plant Areas Interactive Web Map

Important Plant Areas (IPAs) are specific places across New Mexico that support either a high diversity of sensitive plant species or are the last remaining locations of New Mexico’s most endangered plants. New Mexico has identified 133 IPAs with IPA-Biodiversity Ranks that can be used to identify high priority areas for management actions.  More information on IPAs can be found in the New Mexico Rare Plant Conservation Strategy

GIS shapefiles and associated species lists will be made available to land managers and conservation partners on request to the Forestry Division (erika.rowe@emnrd.nm.gov). Using IPAs as the template, the long-range goal is to identify and develop Conservation Opportunity Areas that integrate biodiversity value with management and conservation options.

Important Plant Areas Table (PDF)

Important Plant Areas Map (PDF)

Grassland in the mountains with bright blue sky