September 12, 2021

The Northern New Mexico Master Naturalist Program trains individuals to become stewards of New Mexico’s natural environment, resources, and heritage. This is done through a combination of classroom and field instruction and volunteer work.

This year’s course is well underway and participants recently completed the class on botany and a field trip to the Leonora Curtin Wetland Preserve led by Sylvan Kaufman, Ph.D..

Sylvan Kaufman giving botany overview. Photo: Mike Cook

Botany field trip hiking the South Trail at LCWP. Photo: Mike Cook

Milkweed moth. Photo by Bernadine Rolnicki.

Narrow milkweed with caterpillar. Photo by Bernadine Rolnicki.

Anemopsis californica (yerba mansa‎). Photo by Bernadine Rolnicki.

Botany field trip at LCWP. Photo by Mike Cook.

The Northern New Mexico Master Naturalist Program is based in Santa Fe, NM, and was established in 2018. Our program is a collaborative effort between the Santa Fe County Open Space, Parks, and Trails Department, Audubon Southwest, the Santa Fe Botanical Garden, and the New Mexico Youth Conservation Corps.

The mission of the Northern New Mexico Master Naturalist Program is to foster a diverse community of naturalists equipped to promote awareness, understanding, and stewardship of New Mexico’s natural environment, resources, and heritage through education and service with our partner organizations.

Our vision is to establish a network of involved community members dedicated to addressing the environmental needs of our communities across the northern part of the state.

Current Partners

New Mexico Youth Conservation Corps provides grants to local community organizations to hire youth to help with community and conservation projects including environmental education outreach, building trails, improving wildfire resiliency, erosion control, and preservation of cultural and natural resources.

Randall Davey Audubon Center & Sanctuary hosts the regional office of the National Audubon Society. Audubon is dedicated to conserving and restoring natural ecosystems, with a focus on birds, other wildlife, and their habitats, for the benefit of humanity and the earth’s biological diversity.

Santa Fe Botanical Garden is a nonprofit organization dedicated to conserving and celebrating the rich botanical heritage and biodiversity of our region through education, community service, presentation of the arts, and sustainable management of their nature preserve and public garden.

Santa Fe County Open Space, Trails, and Parks Program provides leadership in local land management and conservation to help ensure the sustainability and resilience of our local ecosystems for human, plant, and wildlife communities.