Land, Resources & Culture

Place Is the Starting Point

Southeastern New Mexico’s economy begins with a physical place: productive basins, mineral deposits, dryland and irrigated farms, forests, aquifers, caverns, dunes, and cultural landscapes. These assets support jobs and public revenue, but they also make demands on water, infrastructure, safety, and stewardship. The same place may be a workplace, a watershed, a habitat, and a destination.

The six chapters that follow move from energy and minerals to forests and water, working lands, natural landmarks, environmental conditions, and cultural life. Together they ask how the region can keep value close to home while protecting the qualities that make Southeastern New Mexico distinctive. Each chapter ends with Key Insights that turn its evidence into regional planning choices.

One Landscape, Several Decisions

The Value of a Place Depends on How We Care for It

Energy and mineral sites need utilities, labor, transport, and safeguards. Farms and ranches depend on land and water condition. Forests, parks, refuges, and cultural places bring people together and support gateway businesses. Where these uses overlap, early coordination avoids costs and helps keep the benefits local.

5Counties, each with distinct conditions

6Connected land and culture chapters

What the Evidence Means

Key Insights

Regional implications from the CEDS evidence. A specific project still needs current local measurements, operator records, and community review.

Assets Become Value Through Systems

A resource matters economically when workers, suppliers, utilities, access, and markets can connect to it. The chapters follow those links rather than treating a site as a self-contained opportunity.

Stewardship Protects Economic Capacity

Water quality, forest health, habitat, site safety, and cultural care shape whether an asset can keep serving people and businesses over time.

The Right Measure Depends on the Place

Production, farm sales, water condition, park visits, and cultural participation answer different questions. Good projects use a dated measure that fits the asset and confirm conditions with its manager.