Nature Conservancy lodge educates visitors

The Houston Chronicle had a recent article about Bear Mountain Lodge which is one of the seven lodges run by the environmental group Nature Conservancy. Bear Mountain is outside of Silver City, New Mexico. The lodge's staff duly educate the guests about the surrounding preserved land's wildlife, nature and enviromental problems:

"[The guide] had pointed out the impacts of cattle grazing, fire suppression and soil loss. 'It takes 1,000 years for one inch of soil to be restored in the desert Southwest.' He spoke about the fragility of the Western landscape, about the land's capacity and lack thereof, to heal itself. There are hopeful signs — the return of the variable checkerspot butterfly, hitherto not seen in these parts for 30 years; the renewed vibrancy of the clumpy pinyon rice grass underfoot; the exuberant re-emergence of cottonwood forests, marshlands and backwater wetlands at the Conservancy's Gila River Farm Preserve."

Read the full story: Blending comfort and conservation