BLM Las Cruces District employees mend fences in the Bootheel

Mar 13, 2026

BLM staff joined forces with volunteers and the Backcountry Hunters & Anglers Association for a barbed wire replacement stewardship event in the Bootheel designed to protect pronghorn sheep.

Last week, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Las Cruces District Office employees, Cody Howard, Ethyn Gutierrez, Kevin Chesak, James Croft, Natalie Gross, Lucas Castro, Stephen D’Annibale and Steven Torrez partnered with the Backcountry Hunters & Anglers Association (BHA) for a Bootheel Stewardship event designed to improve wildlife connectivity on BLM land around the Lordsburg, New Mexico area.

Howard, a wildlife biologist, analyzed radio collar data of pronghorn sheep that was collected by Lucas Begeman, a New Mexico State University graduate student. By monitoring the pronghorn movements and fence lines that posed the largest barrier to their movement, Howard identified sections of fence that needed modification. Since the area of fencing to be repaired was inaccessible from the highway, Ryan Olgilve, a longtime rancher in the area, gave permission to drive through his ranch to access the BLM land to modify the section of fencing.

The lower strand of barbed wire was removed and replaced with a solid strand of wire 18” above the ground, designed to protect bighorn sheep.

A total of eight BLM Las Cruces staff members, three BHA staff, and 15 volunteers crossed Olgilve’s private ranch and walked three quarters of a mile to the fence line. Everyone spread out across the fence and started to remove the bottom barbed strand. After the removal of the lower barbed strand, it was replaced with a smooth strand set at 18” off the ground. This is designed to allow pronghorns to easily pass under the fence without getting injured. In total the crew modified over a mile and a quarter of fencing, improving habitat connectivity on 7,500 acres of public land.

A mesh style of wire was used to replace the fencing at the Red Rock Wildlife Management Area, managed by the New Mexico Department of Wildlife.

The next day the team journeyed to the Red Rock Wildlife Management Area (WMA) facility near Grant, NM to help mend fencing. The Red Rock WMA, managed by the New Mexico Department of Wildlife, boasts a captive breeding population of desert bighorn sheep in a 5,000-acre fenced enclosure. Repairing the fencing enclosure became necessary with recent reports of javelina digging under the fencing and threats of mountain lions in the enclosure.