Partnerships
"Never doubt that a small group of committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that has."
Margaret Meade
The Santa Fe National Forest has a long history of working with partners to sustain forest health and accomplish important resource work. Our partners are vital to accomplishing our mission. Partners include other federal agencies, the state of New Mexico, sportsman groups, conservation organizations, universities, and private individuals. Learn more or get involved!
How You Can Get Involved
Partnerships 101
The Partnerships 101 page has resources about developing and sustaining successful collaboration practices.
Partner With Us!
Contact the Santa Fe National Forest with questions on how to get involved and work together.
NM Habitat Stamp
Foundations, partners and individuals can contribute to habitat improvement projects on the Lincoln National Forest through the New Mexico Habitat Stamp Program.
Volunteer With Us
Strong partnerships help us manage a complex and challenging Recreation Program. Our partners and volunteers commit their time and talents towards trail maintenance, fence maintenance, wildlife surveys and a myriad of other items.
Land Management Plan Direction
The Santa Fe National Forest Land Management Plan provides a strategic and practical framework to implement projects on the forest with partnerships. The following is from page 99.
“For the Santa Fe National Forest to thrive over the next 10-15 years, we will need to work closely with, and tap into the knowledge of, fully engaged partners. To achieve our common goals, we need diverse partners working closely with each other in conjunction with the Santa Fe National Forest. Strong relationships between the Santa Fe National Forest and our partners, including local communities with historic ties to the land, are vital to the sustainable health of the Forest.”
(James Melonas, Former Forest Supervisor for the Santa Fe National Forest)
In recent years, the Forest Service has placed a higher priority on the relationships between national forests and surrounding communities. Santa Fe NF partners and users have valuable ideas and knowledge that can expand the forest’s capacity to “Care for the Land and Serve People.” Extensive public engagement during the development of this plan has provided collective insight from the people who use, benefit from, and are sustained by the Santa Fe National Forest.
We will continue to actively engage the forest’s many public stakeholders through conservation education, working agreements, and partnerships and volunteers, with a particular emphasis on growing the capacity for partnership collaboration around trails, services, and facilities on NFS lands. Partners will continue to build and maintain trails, restore forested and riparian areas, and ensure continued traditional and cultural uses.
Successful implementation of the forest plan will require successful collaborative partnerships with Federal, State, and local governments; federally recognized tribes and pueblos; rural historic communities; land grant-merced and acequia governing bodies; rural historic communities; non-profit organizations; private landowners; youth; and the public. Collaborative partnerships may include identifying, planning, funding, and implementing projects and activities together. Partnerships will improve trust and contribute to projects that best provide for cultural, social, and economic needs while increasing the capacity to do quality restoration work and to develop and provide improved recreation opportunities.
Partnering with others, including across forest boundaries, will create a dynamic of shared work, assets, and ideas that will lead to ecological, social, and cultural projects that benefit the Santa Fe National Forest and its surrounding communities.
Desired conditions make up the aspirational vision that guides actions taken on the ground.
Desired Conditions for Partnerships (FW-PARTNER-DC)
- Partners and volunteers are a collaborative network that increases capacity for managing forest resources, assists in communicating with and educating the public, and is a crucial component to achieving short- and long-term mutually shared goals (e.g., restoration, traditional and cultural uses, and sustainable recreation).
- Open communication with partners about expectations and partnering opportunities encourages growth in existing relationships and promotes new partnerships. The open exchange of information promotes collaborative development of forest priorities, a connection to place and its history, and a sense of stewardship.
- Partnerships improve landscape-scale management across ownership boundaries to find solutions to ecological and societal issues.
Management approaches may be used to inform future proposed and possible actions. They may illustrate suggestions as to how desired conditions or objectives could be met, convey a sense of priority among objectives, or indicate possible future course of change to a program.
Management Approaches for Partnerships (FW-PARTNER-MA)
- Management approaches related to partnerships are found throughout this plan, typically as the first management approach for each resource.