This Landscape Inspired Some of Georgia O’Keeffe’s Best-Known Works. Now, It’s Receiving New Protections
A conservation plan will help preserve 6,000 acres of land in northern New Mexico, a region that frequently appears in the 20th-century artist’s paintings
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Georgia O’Keeffe immortalized the grasslands and mountains that surrounded her home and studio in northern New Mexico through paintings like My Front Yard, Summer, 1941 and Pedernal. Now, a new conservation plan will help protect the land, too.
“The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum is here today because O’Keeffe fell in love with northern New Mexico, particularly Abiquiú and Ghost Ranch, moved here, and painted the landscape prolifically for nearly the rest of her long life,” says Cody Hartley, director of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, in a statement. “Her vision and output are renowned, and this plan ensures the preservation of these vistas and the landscape in perpetuity.”
Quick fact: Georgia O’Keeffe’s love for New Mexico
The artist visited the state for the first time in 1917, and by 1929 she was spending time there nearly every year.
To protect the 6,000 acres of land, the state of New Mexico and the New Mexico Land Conservancy have partnered with Ghost Ranch and the Presbyterian Church Foundation through conservation easements, according to the New York Times’ Derrick Bryson Taylor.
Jonathan Hayden, executive director of the New Mexico Land Conservancy, tells the Santa Fe Reporter’s Jesse Jones that discussions have been occurring “for the better part of a decade” but gained momentum in 2024.
“The stark colorful geology, the verdant grasslands going right down to the Chama River and Abiquiú Lake—all that just makes it such a multifaceted place with tremendous conservation value,” Hayden tells the Associated Press’ Morgan Lee.
The plan consists of two phases: The first phase will protect 4,225 acres of grasslands, focusing on areas with the most development pressure, while the second phase will add another 1,560 acres, including the area around O’Keeffe’s former home.
“Once it’s legally subdivided, and once they start putting in roads and utilities and septic, it’s really hard to get back into a natural state,” Hayden tells the Santa Fe Reporter. “By being proactive about this and prohibiting that from happening, we’re helping ensure that it’s going to stay one continuous natural landscape.”
David Evans, the chief executive of the Ghost Ranch Education and Retreat Center, tells the Times that the partnership is a “once-in-a-generation” chance to protect the beloved landscape.
The state is providing more than $900,000 from New Mexico’s Natural Heritage Conservation Act, which receives about $1.4 million for land conservation annually. Most of the money will compensate Ghost Ranch for the land’s development rights.
“This conservation plan is a great example of what can happen when people work together to preserve what we love about New Mexico,” New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham says in a statement. “We’re excited to leave a lasting legacy for future generations to enjoy the stunning landscapes and vistas that drew Georgia O’Keeffe to northern New Mexico and continue to define this region’s incomparable beauty.”