Name: Riparian Conservation Opportunity Areas (2025)
Display Field: RCOA_NAME
Type: Feature Layer
Geometry Type: esriGeometryPolygon
Description: The Riparian Conservation Opportunity Areas (RCOAs) Version 3.0 portfolio is a spatial toolkit developed to support conservation and restoration of riparian and wetland habitats across New Mexico. Originally created for the Upper Rio Grande as part of the “Ribbons of Life” initiative in collaboration with National Wildlife Federation. The project was later expanded statewide with support from the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish for integration into the 2025 New Mexico State Wildlife Action Plan. RCOAs are discrete sites mapped using consistent GIS rules, based on riparian vegetation, landscape context, and ownership. Each RCOA contains Riparian Strongholds—large, intact areas of high-quality habitat—and may also include adjacent native areas, potential restoration zones, and smaller riparian patches to enhance habitat connectivity. RCOAs are classified by wetland type (headwater, confined, unconfined) and rated A–D based on size, composition, and vegetation diversity. The resulting portfolio of 2,399 RCOAs provides place-based targets for conservation planning and offers a platform to track restoration success.
Copyright Text: Riparian Conservation Opportunity Areas were developed by Esteban Muldavin, Corrie Gonzalez, and Elizabeth Milford of Natural Heritage New Mexico (NHNM), and John Leonard (formerly NHNM).
Significant contributions were made by Bruce Stein, Brian Kurzel, Alex Puglisi, Jeremy Romero, and Alicia Marrs (National Wildlife Federation), and Virginia Seamster (New Mexico Department of Game and Fish).
We thank the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish and the National Wildlife Federation for their financial support.
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