Ciudad SWCD Introduction 

Ciudad Soil & Water Conservation District (Ciudad SWCD) is a local government agency, known as a special district or political subdivision of the state, that has been around since 1944. The district truly values its deep and broad partnerships, including our constituents. Ciudad SWCD works tirelessly to serve the people of our district with the highest quality of public service and education of natural resource management best practices. Ciudad frequently is the go-between with other land management agencies, working across jurisdictional boundaries, including private lands, to provide funding and technical assistance to landowners. We lead by example and teach all others interested in helping us promote responsible land use, water conservation, pollution reduction, and the overall stewardship of the natural resources we depend on. 

 In order to efficiently implement conservation on the ground, Ciudad SWCD cuts the red tape of bureaucracy for other land management agencies and quickly implements projects that would be cumbersome due to larger local government processes. Land managers, like the City of Albuquerque Open Space, Bernalillo County Open Space, and Bernalillo County Natural Resource Services, as well as other land managers, call upon Ciudad SWCD when implementing projects that pose difficulty for them. In addition, land managers seek assistance from Ciudad SWCD on best management practices while performing natural resource conservation. 

On the other hand, Ciudad SWCD supports smaller environmental organizations who lack the capacity to administer grants or implement large-scale projects, such as the Arid LID Coalition and the International Society of Arboriculture Rocky Mountain Chapter. On various occasions, Ciudad SWCD has acted as the financial agent, administering federal and state grants on behalf of these community-based organizations so they can gain access to funding otherwise out of reach.  

Unlike other government agencies in the state, Soil & Water Conservation Districts are allowed to use government funding to provide direct benefit to private and public individuals. Ciudad SWCD is able to use federal and state funding to assist public and private landowners with meeting their natural resource goals. Ciudad SWCD works with farms through the New Mexico Department of Agriculture(NMDA)’s Healthy Soil Grant Program to improve soil health, as well as implement forest health projects on private and public lands in the East Mountains with funding from the US Forest Service. 

Ciudad SWCD is a government agency that is currently funded primarily through grants and cooperative agreements.  On an annual basis, 98% of Ciudad SWCD's revenue is directly from Federal or State grants and other cooperative agreements with other local public bodies for the sole purpose of implementing projects and scopes of work.   Each year the New Mexico legislature provides appropriations for SWCD operations. The appropriation Ciudad SWCD received in FY 2024 was $18,372.42. All other expenditures and revenue have been directly related to grants and cooperative agreements, as Ciudad SWCD does not currently received property tax revenue from it’s constituents. What Ciudad SWCD is able to accomplish as a District is largely restricted to the availability and guidelines of grant funding that are awarded. This has been a challenge for Ciudad SWCD in continuing various pilot programs and supporting critical projects within our watershed.  Ciudad SWCD has been very resourceful with available grant funding, but in order to steward our lands to the best of the District's ability, funding from a mill levy property tax would be externally beneficial in conserving our natural resources on private and public lands.