Village of Corrales Farmland Preservation
Corrales voters approved public funding to protect the village’s rapidly disappearing farmland. The next challenge was turning that commitment into defensible priorities, workable transactions, and permanent protection.
Client
Village of Corrales
Service
Conservation Advisory
State
New Mexico
Status
Farmland Protected
Corrales sits within the Albuquerque metropolitan area, where remaining farmland faces continued development pressure. Village voters approved dedicated funding for farmland preservation, creating both an opportunity and a public responsibility.
Funding alone does not identify which properties should be protected or complete the transactions. The Village also needs a consistent evaluation process, willing landowners, property-specific conservation strategies, and coordinated appraisal, title, survey, water-rights, easement, and closing work.
Terra Alta helps connect those parts.
Turning voter-approved funding into protected farmland
Evaluated properties consistently
Terra Alta works with Village staff, the Farmland Preservation Advisory Committee, and landowners to evaluate candidate properties against the program’s agricultural and conservation objectives.
Maps and written property assessments give the committee and Village Council a consistent basis for comparing opportunities and explaining recommendations.
Developed a strategy for each property
Every property presents a different combination of ownership, agricultural use, water, title conditions, conservation value, and landowner goals.
Terra Alta develops a property-specific strategy before permanent terms are negotiated, identifying the proposed conservation structure, key retained rights, likely costs, and issues requiring resolution.
Coordinated due diligence and approvals
Terra Alta coordinates appraisal, title, survey, legal access, water-rights documentation, lender requirements, easement documentation, and other project needs.
Addressing these matters early helps preserve options, control costs, and prevent avoidable problems late in the transaction.
Managed each project to closing
Terra Alta keeps landowners, Village staff, the advisory committee, easement holders, attorneys, appraisers, surveyors, and title professionals working from a coordinated process.
Each project is managed from initial evaluation through negotiations, public approvals, due diligence, and closing so the Village’s investment can result in permanent farmland protection.
Funding alone does not protect land. Between an appropriation and a recorded easement lie property evaluation, landowner negotiations, appraisal, title and survey work, environmental and mineral due diligence, easement documentation, and public approvals. Any unresolved issue can delay or stop a project.
For a municipality, county, or land trust with both funding and a conservation mandate, someone must coordinate that work from beginning to end. Terra Alta serves that role for the Village of Corrales.
Valued Partner
$13.5 million
Forest Legacy Program funding
1,218
Acres protected forever
7 miles
Native brook trout streams protected
Other Terra Alta Projects
Buffalo Creek Wilderness
A state wildlife agency wanted the property and there was no money on the table.
Terra Alta developed the $13.5 million Forest Legacy Program application that positioned it for acquisition by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission.
Great Canal Farm
A village passed a bond to protect its farmland and needed to turn the money raised into completed easements.
Terra Alta serves as Conservation Advisor to the program, with four conservation easement projects completed and three others currently active.
San Gabriel Valley Community Land Trust Study
A regional coalition wanted to know whether a land trust would work and where it should start.
Terra Alta led the geographic analysis across 18 municipalities that identified where land acquisition would have the greatest effect.
Start with the property and the questions
You do not need to know which conservation option is right—or whether conservation makes sense at all. Tell us about the property and what you hope to accomplish. We will help identify what is realistically possible and which paths, if any, are worth pursuing.