Important Plant Areas of New Mexico

Important Plant Areas (IPAs) are a product of The New Mexico Rare Plant Conservation Strategy. The strategy is an integral part of the State of New Mexico’s Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resources Department, Forestry Division’s Forest Action Plan, which identifies needs and opportunities across all land ownerships in the state and guides long-term Division management, planning, and conservation opportunities. Important Plant Areas (IPAs) are places across New Mexico that have been identified (and delineated) as supporting either a high diversity of sensitive species or are the last remaining locations of our most endangered plants. The IPAs were developed using a combination of spatial modeling of rare species observation data in a GIS and expert review followed by the assignment of a Biodiversity Rank (B1-B4) to assist in prioritizing areas for conservation planning.