World Wildlife Fund

Join WWF’s Cathy Plume for an insider account of how WWF is conserving this place. Meet local people whose eco-businesses are the hope of this desert. Experience nighttime border crossings, a day on horseback and the culture of the Southwest. Learn what WWF and partners are doing to keep water flowing through the Rio Grande – while also meeting the needs of the five million people who call this desert home. 

Part 1: Arrival in Chihuahua | Part 2: Goals and Ghouls | Part 3: Thirsty Rivers | Part 4: Hermelinda's Story | Part 5: Señor Vallina's Vision | Part 6: Bighorn Sightings | Part 7: Starry Night | Part 8: Coffee and Congress | Part 9: Re-thinking Water | Part 10: Conserving Together

Bottle of herbal shampoo produced from local plants by the women of Hermelinda’s ejido
© WWF/Cathy Plume

Before heading out to the ranch where we’re going to spend the night, we drop Hermelinda at her home in Mesquite.  It’s not really a town but rather a group of houses spread out over 100 or so acres.  Along the way, Hermelinda talks about another ecobusiness where she and local women from the ejido make and sell herbal shampoos and creams from native plants. After a quick goodbye we’re off to Señor Vallina’s ranch.

We’re visiting Sr. Vallina because he is reintroducing bighorn sheep on his 7,400-acre parcel of land. Bighorn sheep once roamed through the Chihuahuan Desert in large herds. Now, their numbers are diminished by habitat loss. While he’s reintroducing them for trophy hunting, he is also open to the idea of providing sheep to Hermelinda’s UMA.  His family has lived in northern Mexico for generations, and he is deeply rooted to this desert environment. 

Señor Vallina’s deeply-held conservation values are the hope of the Chihuahuan Desert.
© WWF

The road to Sr. Vallina’s ranch is 22 miles of riverbed and rocky terrain. Even though it’s only 5PM, the sun is already setting – casting breathtaking shadows across the landscape.  A roadrunner scoots across the road in front of us. Fortunately, people get it when I say “beep, beep!”

We bump along for what seems like an eternity.  Mule deer eye us cautiously in the dusk.   Finally, we approach a mid-size hacienda where Sr. Villegas greets us and welcomes us into his home.  When I sit down to dinner I take a deep breath as I realize that almost all of my plate is covered with a steak.  So much for the vegetarian diet. There is no dodging this one and I dive in.  After about three bites of grassfed steak that seems to melt in my mouth, I exclaim that “this is one of the best steaks I have ever eaten!”  Our host grins and I see my British colleagues choke back a laugh. 

Part 1: Arrival in Chihuahua | Part 2: Goals and Ghouls | Part 3: Thirsty Rivers | Part 4: Hermelinda's Story | Part 5: Señor Vallina's Vision | Part 6: Bighorn Sightings | Part 7: Starry Night | Part 8: Coffee and Congress | Part 9: Re-thinking Water | Part 10: Conserving Together