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Trabajo de conservación en campo en Cuatro Ciénegas

Our work

We don’t care for a place: we regenerate a system

Five mutually reinforcing pillars so Cuatro Ciénegas can recharge its aquifer, bring back its wildlife, and generate well-being for those who live here.

In the Cuatro Ciénegas Basin, water rises from underground in the middle of the Chihuahuan Desert and forms pozas (spring-fed desert pools), rivers, wetlands, and grasslands found nowhere else on the planet. That system is drying out: pumping the aquifer for agribusiness and the degradation of the grasslands where rain should soak in have shrunk the valley’s wetlands by around 90% over five decades.

A poza that dries up isn’t a problem of that poza alone: it’s the sign that water isn’t soaking in upstream and more is being pumped out than the valley can give.

That’s why we don’t work in isolated projects. We regenerate the whole landscape through five mutually reinforcing pillars: two regenerate water and life, two turn caring for the territory into a way to prosper, and we do all of it with people.

Poza turquesa rodeada de desierto en Cuatro Ciénegas

Water and Ecosystems

To keep the rain in the landscape, recharge the aquifer again, and bring the water back to the pozas.

It all begins where the water falls. The grasslands, scrubland, and wetlands of the Cuatro Ciénegas Basin are a single hydrological system: when the sierra is covered in vegetation, rain soaks in and recharges the aquifer; when the grassland degrades, water runs off, is lost, and the pozas downstream feel it years later. That’s why we regenerate ecosystems for their role in the water cycle: soil and water conservation works and planned grazing in the recharge zones, and wetlands whose natural function we restore by closing the canals that drained them for decades. And we work on what no single project solves alone: together with those who share the Basin’s water, we seek mechanisms to slow and reverse the aquifer’s overexploitation, starting with the compensated cancellation of deep-well concessions.

So far: in 2025 we closed three artificial canals on the San Marcos River so the wetland can recover its natural function, and we monitor there the two endemic turtle species that depend on it. Soil and water conservation works in the El Santuario recharge zone.

La manada de bisontes en los pastizales de El Santuario

Wildlife (Rewilding)

To give each species back its place — and with it, its role in the landscape.

A species that returns isn’t a symbol: it’s an ecological process switching back on. The bison moves and fertilizes the grassland and turns it into a sponge for the rain; predators keep herbivores in check; the endemic turtles tell us whether the wetland is healthy. That’s rewilding: reintroducing the species that shaped this valley, releasing rehabilitated wildlife, and protecting those that exist only here, in alliance with environmental authorities, scientific institutions, and the N’dé Nation.

So far: a founding herd of 47 American bison (Bison bison) reintroduced in November 2025 after more than a century away, with the first calves born in 2026; five black bears, 14 raptors, and one golden eagle released; records of puma, bobcat, kit fox, and collared peccary; monitoring of the Basin’s endemic turtles with Turtle Conservancy and the UJED Herpetology Lab. In preparation: the return of the bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis).

Pastizal y sierra reflejados en el agua de Cuatro Ciénegas

Regenerative agriculture

That the Basin’s food regenerate the soil that produces it and the water that sustains it.

Agriculture is the largest user of water in the Cuatro Ciénegas Basin. The pressure on the aquifer isn’t solved by asking people to stop producing, but by showing in the field and with numbers that there’s another way to produce. At the San Isidro Agroecological Ranch we turn degraded farmland into diversified grasslands with planned grazing, and from there come pasture-raised eggs, goat milk, meat, milpa, compost, and nursery plants. It’s a demonstration plot and a field school for the valley’s producers.

So far: 30 hectares (74 acres) of degraded soil turned into diversified grassland. With CBTa #22, the first agroecological campus in the national system of technical agricultural high schools: 12 hectares of grassland, a dairy workshop, and 135 students per cycle.

Vista aérea del valle y las pozas de Cuatro Ciénegas

Experiences

That every visit regenerate what it came to see: income that returns to the territory, and visitors who leave as allies of the Basin.

We open our sites to visitors on tours guided by our own team: the grassland where the bison grazes, the restored wetland, the regenerative ranch. We call it regenerative tourism for three reasons: part of the income is reinvested in restoration, the operation is local, and every experience includes learning. We’re building this pillar step by step.

So far: more than 800 visitors hosted in 2025 and expeditions to El Santuario with limited dates. In design: trails, signage, and low-impact lodging at El Cañón and El Santuario, and training for local guides.

Asistentes durante un evento de la Fundación Pro Cuatrociénegas

Community and culture

That the Basin regenerate from within: children who know their water, young people who care for it, and communities that prosper by caring for it.

No territory regenerates without the people who inhabit it. We take Cuatro Ciénegas students into the field to get to know their own valley, we train young people and community leaders, we organize cleanups with public and private institutions, and we share the cultures and traditions of the Indigenous peoples and the communities that have lived in this territory. The valley’s producers, students, and young people aren’t beneficiaries: they’re allies without whom this model wouldn’t be possible.

So far: more than 600 students in environmental education in 2025; 12 cleanup campaigns that removed 11,230 kg of waste with 220 collaborators. Goal: more than 850 students a year.

Four ways of working that run through everything

These axes aren’t programs: they’re ways of working present in all five pillars.

Biocultural approach.

The landscape and the culture formed together. The N’dé Nation, the Indigenous people of this territory, is a long-term ally: its voice and its knowledge are part of the model.

Science and monitoring.

We measure what we do and always say what’s been achieved and what’s planned. We work with the Universidad Autónoma de Coahuila, the UJED, and the University of Texas.

Alliances and collaboration.

No one regenerates an aquifer alone: government, academia, civil society, donors, and above all those who share the Basin’s water.

Regenerative economy.

Turning care for the territory into a way to prosper: production, experiences, and local value added.

Be part of the change now

Every gift protects, cares for, and restores.

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