About Appleton-Whittell Research Ranch

The Research Ranch is a cooperative partnership among the National Audubon Society, U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, The Nature Conservancy, Swift Current Land & Cattle and The Research Ranch Foundation. The 8,000 acres are managed by Audubon and portions of the land include the Coronado National Forest and Las Cienegas National Conservation Area. The property is surrounded by 5 million acres of semi-desert grassland and forested mountains covering southeastern Arizona and adjacent portions of Mexico and New Mexico.  For more than 30 years, the Research Ranch has protected grassland ecosystems through conservation, research, and education.

The Research Ranch has three main goals:

• Conservation:  to be a premier semi-arid grassland ecosystem that fosters a natural diversity of native species
• Research: to understand how grasslands and related ecosystems function, and to recognize the key elements that safeguard these ecosystems
• Education: to advocate for grassland ecosystems by encouraging community members and policy makers to safeguard and rehabilitate native ecosystems throughout the region

To protect wildlife habitat and ongoing research projects at the Research Ranch, public access is restricted. Some roads and trails are accessible with permission only.