Cuenca Los Ojos
Our mission is to protect, restore, and rewild the biodiversity of the U.S.-Mexico borderlands
We bring back Water, Soil, and Life
Watershed of the Springs
Cuenca Los Ojos, the Watershed of the Springs, is a 121,000-acre (49,000-ha) protected area in the Sky Islands of Sonora, Mexico. Located directly along the United States-Mexico border, Cuenca stewards the unique desert wetlands, open grasslands, and soaring mountains of the Madrean Archipelago. We are restoring and rewilding these once-degraded ranch lands by repairing waterways and reviving the natural processes of herbivory, predation, pollination, fire, carbon sequestration, and nutrient cycling. Today, Cuenca is home once again to jaguar, ocelot, black bears, beavers, and a host of other threatened and endangered species.
What We Have Achieved
Constructed more than 40,000 small rock dams in washes and hillsides, plus an additional 20,000 on partnering lands in the US and Mexico
Species reintroductions: white-tailed deer, beavers and turkeys
Provided habitat for more than 90 mammal species, 40 reptiles, 10 amphibians, and 10 fish
Raised the water table during a ten-year drought
Protected 121,000 acres (49,000 ha) of land
Restored 809 hectares of new riparian vegetation
Restored 3 miles of year-round water flow on RSB/Silver Creek
Aerated and reseeded 8,000 acres of grasslands with native grasses
Constructed more than 80 large gabions on both sides of the border
Constructed more than 1,000 berms to slow erosion and capture water
Since the mid-1990s, we have worked to reverse centuries of land degradation. What was once bare dirt is now home again to the unique wildlife of this biodiversity hotspot. If it can be done here, it can be done anywhere.
Valer Clark, Founder
Photo by: Krista Schlyer (IG @krista_schlyer)
Water
In the arid lands of northern Mexico, everything depends on water. By adapting and scaling technologies long used by indigenous residents of the Sky Islands, we have restored free-flowing rivers and desert wetlands.
Soil
Like many places in the Sky Islands, Cuenca was degraded by years of overuse. Cuenca’s soil strategy began with measures to stop erosion in waterways and expanded into rebuilding and revitalizing the soil.
Life
Cuenca lies at the heart of one of the most biodiverse areas in North America. In addition to black bears, and jaguar, Cuenca provides food, water, and habitat for a host of threatened and endangered species.