Tag Archive for: Organ Mountains Wilderness

Joaquin Murrieta-Saldivar

The Trust Welcomes a New Board Member

April 2021 – We are thrilled to introduce Joaquin Murrieta-Saldivar, PhD, as a new addition to our board of directors. Joaquin is originally from Mexico and lives in Tucson, AZ, where he works for a watershed management organization as a cultural ecologist. Joaquin splits his professional time between Mexico and Arizona implementing community-based approaches to watershed management, river restoration, geo-tourism, conservation and best practices for ranching communities.

Joaquin Murrieta-Saldivar

Joaquin says he was drawn to wilderness at an early age when his mother taught him how to listen to the Sonora River and asked him if the river was happy to be flowing toward the ocean. He says the concept of the happiness of rivers stuck with him and perhaps led to his 20+ year career of working on watersheds.

When asked what drew him to The Wilderness Land Trust, Joaquin had this to say:

“Wilderness needs humans in order to be wild now. Humans are working to maintain wilderness and I appreciate the Trust’s relationship with public and private lands. I’m very interested in how the Trust can share the values of wilderness with the rest of society through stories, education, respect and connectivity. Nature and wilderness, it’s all a part of us. The closer we are to nature, the better we are as humans.”

Please join us in welcoming Joaquin to The Wilderness Land Trust family as our newest board member.

A Special Field Trip to Achenbach Canyon

On a hike in the Achenbach Canyon this week (left to right): Patrick Nolan, executive director, Friends of Organ Mountains – Desert Peaks National Monument; U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich, New Mexico; Aimee Rutledge, vice president and senior lands specialist, The Wilderness Land Trust

April 9, 2021 – This week we had the opportunity to visit our 109-acre project adjacent the Organ Mountains Wilderness with U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich of New Mexico. Aimee Rutledge, our vice president and senior lands specialist, hiked the Achenbach Canyon Trail with the senator, as well as project partners from the Friends of Organ Mountains – Desert Peaks National Monument and Bureau of Land Management.

Senator Heinrich has been a champion for the Trust’s New Mexico projects and passage of the Great American Outdoors Act, as well as a national leader in the initiative to protect 30 percent of U.S. land and ocean by 2030.

During the visit, Senator Heinrich had this to say about our Achenbach Canyon project: “This is a huge win for public access to our public lands. Easier public access to this trailhead will immediately put the rugged scenery and unique desert plant life in Achenbach Canyon on the map as a must-see hiking destination in the Organ Mountains – Desert Peaks National Monument. I’m proud that the Land and Water Conservation Fund — which I helped to fully and permanently fund as part of the Great American Outdoors Act —  made it possible for us to secure permanent public access to the entrance of the Achenbach Canyon Trail. I am grateful to The Wilderness Land Trust and to the Friends of Organ Mountains – Desert Peaks for all the hard work and support that went into protecting this ecosystem for all of us to enjoy.”

Thanks to supporters like you, the Trust closed on this land purchase this week. Stay tuned for more good news coming out of New Mexico and several other western states soon.

For more information on our hike with Senator Heinrich, check out this article in the Las Cruces Sun News.