The Santa Fe Botanical Garden (SFBG) is a nonprofit organization, established and run by gardeners, botanists and environmentally oriented volunteers. Santa Fe Botanical Garden celebrates, cultivates and conserves the rich botanical heritage and biodiversity of Northern New Mexico through community service and education on environmentally responsible garden design, including plant selection and care, as well as conservation techniques for water catchment and harvesting. Santa Fe Botanical Garden manages two properties as natural preserves: the Ortiz Mountains Educational Preserve and the Leonora Curtin Wetland Preserve.
Please do not bring any pets, except for certified assistance animals.
The Ortiz Mountains Educational Preserve is a 1350-acre site located in a group of mountains south of Santa Fe along the Turquoise Trail. It is a ruggedly beautiful area, comprised of ponderosa and piñon habitat with wildlife including brown bears and coyotes to horned toads and ant lions, dozens of bird species and bats in the abandoned gold mines. There is a suggested donation of $5 per person to help maintain the Preserve.
Directions to The Ortiz Mountains Educational Preserve:
From Santa Fe, take State Highway 14 (Cerrillos Road) South for 15 miles. Past the town of Cerrillos turn Left on County Road 55 (Gold Mine Road). Follow CR 55 for 6 miles to the Preserve.
Leonora Curtin Wetland Preserve is located on 35-acres adjacent to El Rancho de las Golondrinas in La Cienega. The Preserve lies in an open pinon-juniper woodland linking the grasslands of the Galisteo basin and Rio Grande River valley to the wooded Sangre de Cristo foothills.
This rare natural marsh, or 'cienega' in Spanish, hosts a bountiful diversity of plants and wildlife. Nature trails wind through an open meadow and under gnarled cottonwood trees to a cattail ringed pond and to an arid upland area where yucca and cactus thrive. Guided tours and special events are regularly scheduled from late spring through fall.
Directions to Leonora Curtin Wetland Preserve:
Take I-25 south from Santa Fe. Exit right at the La Cienega exit (#271). Turn right on West Frontage Road, driving North for approximately 1½ miles. The entrance to LCWP is on the left. Turn into the parking area and follow the path located to the left of the parking lot into the Leonora Curtin Wetland Preserve.
