EDDY COUNTY RANCHER RECEIVES RESTORE NM AWARD AT NM JOINT STOCK-MANS CONVENTION

John Ballard has been a farmer/rancher south of Carlsbad his entire life. He started his career 74 years ago when he was literally “grew-up in the house” that he still lives in today. Over the years he has been involved with all aspects of the farming and ranching life. He has owned a trucking company, bred and raised good cattle, horses, crops and kids. John was one of the first ranchers in the state to work with the Bureau of Land Management as part of the Restore New Mexico program to treat catclaw and creosote. He has been involved in one capacity or another in the program since its humble beginnings. He has worked on the Black and Delaware Rivers extracting salt cedar and Russian olive as well as installed many cattle guards in the area of Hackberry Lake Recreation Area to enhance access while maintaining the ranch lease holders fencing. He currently has a contract with the Carlsbad Soil and Water Conservation District to perform reseeding on the Restore New Mexico reclamation projects. His life long experience of working with the land in southeast New Mexico has made him the ideal person to perform this task. John Ballard has re-seeded approximately 200 acres this year, and roughly 5000 acres to date of rangeland as part of this program. John’s pro-active and can-do spirit have been instrumental in the success of Restore New Mexico. He is an innovative rancher, yet still honors his ranching traditions. There is always a hot meal for anyone who stops in, and if you are lucky, a great chocolate cake for dessert!