New Mexico’s peaceful and diverse landscapes are steeped in heritage thousands of years in the making, inspiring adventurers from across the country to descend upon this southwestern state. It’s no surprise New Mexico is known as “the land of enchantment.”

From the Sangre De Cristo Mountains to the Organ Mountains and everywhere in between, New Mexico’s geological evolution has created a colorful patchwork of mountains, valleys and basins with a biological diversity that has evolved over 700,000 years. The state ranks second in number of native mammal species (after California and not including marine mammals) and is dominated by five major ecosystems: Alpine-conifer, desert and basin, juniper-scrub, plains-mesa and riparian habitats.

But despite boasting some of the nation’s most majestic wildlands, New Mexico has less protected wilderness than any other western state. Only 2.5 percent of New Mexico’s total land area is protected as wilderness and 10.5 percent protected as tribal land, with an estimated five million additional roadless acres deserving of protection. Without it, this beautiful, colorful landscape is vulnerable to permanent destruction from oil and gas development, mining, commercial logging and other threats.