Rewilding the Land

Protecting, restoring, and rewilding the Borderlands

Goal: Rewild the land

We have protected the land by transferring ownership to Cuenca Los Ojos A.C., a Mexican nonprofit organization, and by designating it as a voluntary conservation area (ADVC) under Mexican law. Cuenca was able to convey the lands in Sonora, Mexico into a trust (fideicomiso) to permanently protect the land. Generous financial support was provided by the Wyss Foundation and Fondo Mexicano para la Conservación de la Naturaleza A.C.

We have been restoring the land by assisting in the recovery of degraded ecosystems. Our primary work has been on the watersheds, ciénegas, and grasslands.

We are rewilding the land by reinstating the ecological and evolutionary processes that allow nature to function in its full wildness and beauty. Here, rewilding the land involves identifying the missing elements of fully functional ecosystems, reinstating those elements, and jump-starting the processes that allow nature to develop in a “self-willed” way. By putting the essential components in place, then allowing natural processes to take over, we return wildness to the land.

Cuenca has restored many components that were missing from the ecosystem. Restoration of waterways has provided habitat for large carnivores, such as black bear, jaguar, and ocelot, to return, reviving the ecological process of predation. Regenerative ranching has brought back large herbivores, with cattle serving as a substitute for the bison that once roamed the land. Reintroduction of extirpated animals, including the white-tailed deer, and protection of endemic species have led to more complex food webs. Planting and seeding of trees and grasses have boosted nutrient and carbon cycles and water infiltration, while an increased number of flowering plants catalyzes pollination, to the benefit of both flora and fauna. Through these processes, Cuenca is rewilding the land and allowing nature to continue to evolve.