In the mid-1990s, Kimberly de Castro bought a 50-acre ranch outside San Jose, New Mexico. At the time, the land she purchased was overgrazed, eroded, and largely barren. Rather than abandoning the property, she began rehabilitating the land with help from a small grant through the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program. The US Department of Interior’s 2002 annual report noted that de Castro planted more than 5,000 trees and shrubs, sowed grass seed, and placed straw bales containing seed and fertiliser in areas where erosion was most severe.
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