Strategic Upland Conservation Easements to Support Watershed Connectivity for Leslie Canyon National Wildlife Refuge

To restore the rare riparian wetlands at the Rio Yaqui Basin, USFWS purchased conservation easements to protect water resources and increase connectivity of riparian and upland habitats. USFWS built trust with a local coalition of ranchers who support private land conservation. Two conservation easements were purchased: the 7,000-acre 99-Bar Ranch and the 13,713-acre Bar Boot Ranch. These easements help ensure the survival of native fish and wildlife on a landscape scale while allowing normal livestock ranching operations and watershed restoration activities to continue. This project illustrates a successful private-federal conservation collaboration as ranchers and wildlife managers found common ground in their conservation missions.