Building Resilience Through Collaboration: NMFWRI completes project with Claunch-Pinto, partners
In July, the Collaboration Program completed a two-year project with theThe area near Mountainair, NM. Photo by NMFWRIClaunch-Pinto Soil and Water Conservation District (CPSWCD), working alongside SWCA Environmental Consultants, SAKAK Natural Resource Consulting, and the Geospatial Applications in Natural Sciences (GAINS) Lab at New Mexico Highlands University. Funded by the Soil and Water Conservation Commission, the project focused on building long-term capacity and capturing the institutional knowledge of longtime CPSWCD District Manager, Dierdre Tarr.
The effort resulted in an interactive online Hub Site designed to preserve institutional knowledge and support future board members, staff, and partner districts. Capturing this knowledge, particularly the experience and insights of Tarr, is essential for ensuring continuity, retaining hard-earned lessons, and strengthening the foundation for future conservation work. Under Tarr’s leadership, the district has secured over 32 million dollars in funding for restoration projects and treated more than 55,000 acres since 1997. Her success over the past three decades underscores the importance of cross-boundary collaboration across large landscapes.
The NMFWRI Collaboration Team led project coordination, managed timelines, gathered and implemented feedback from the CPSWCD Board of Directors, and conducted in-depth interviews with Tarr on various aspects of her work, including building partnerships, public outreach, securing and managing funding, and responding to natural disasters.
From these interviews, the Collaboration Team developed the Lessons Learned section of the Hub Site, which highlights key strategies that have shaped CPSWCD’s success over the years. These include:
Investing in strong partnerships with landowners, agencies, and community organizations to expand capacity and deliver impactful projects;
Building transparency and trust to maintain long-term relationships and community engagement;
Prioritizing consistency and follow through to strengthen credibility and unlock future opportunities.
These insights, along with resource summaries and other related documents, are now available on the Hub Site to support not only the CPSWCD, but other Soil and Water Conservation Districts across New Mexico.
The project also created a unique learning opportunity for a NMHU student who was hired as a Student Collaboration Aide to support research and content development, helping bridge institutional knowledge with the next generation of conservation leaders.
