Augmenting Conservation with Education and Restoration

268 Thornton Ranch Road, Lamy, NM 87540

Open dawn to dusk to hikers, bikers, and equestrians
Many parts of the property are being restored, so please stay on the trails or in the arroyos and keep your dogs leashed.

We are creating a parking area, so for now, please park at the Cottonwood Trailhead.
Dovetail is located at the end of Thornton Ranch Road.

Descriptions of the individual trail sections can be found below.

Total Length: 4.5 Miles
Hiking/Running:  Yes
Bicycling:  Yes
Equestrian:  Yes
Motorized Vehicles:  No
Dog Friendly?:  On Leash – Yes

Open to the public from dawn to dusk, Dovetail features four miles of new trails that connect to the 50 miles of trails at the Galisteo Basin Preserve.  All of  Dovetail trails are open to hikers, bikers, and equestrians. No motorized vehicles are allowed on the property.

SFCT has plans to construct an accessible trail at Dovetail in the fall of 2025 to provide everyone with more equitable access to the outdoors.  Its route has been flagged and we have worked with user groups to assess it and give us feedback before constructing it.  If you would like to help fund this effort, please contact us.

The North Trail is an easy-to-moderately difficult natural-surface single-track trail that crosses Dovetail north of the Arroyo de los Angeles for 8/10 of a mile. It continues to Galisteo Basin Preserve Trails to the east (“Nana’s Surprise” near Junction 27) and west (“Galante’s Gambol”). At a location where it winds through some interesting Galisteo rock formations, the North Trail also has a short connection north to GBP Junction 43 at “Mark’s Reach,” for a total of roughly one mile of trail on Dovetail.

The North Trail Connectors are two easy natural-surface single-track trails of about 1/10 of a mile each connecting the central Loop Trail to the North Trail.

The South Trail is a 1.4-mile natural-surface single-track trail south of the Arroyo de los Angeles connecting the Loop Trail to GBP’s new “Zip-a-Dee Doo Dawg” trail to the west. As one heads south, a small spur on the slope of the “Little Hill” provides a wonderful view of the former HQ site on the Arroyo de los Angeles. At about the one-mile point, the South Trail transitions from a fairly easy route to one with challenging, steep and rocky sections on the “Big Hill.” On the top of the Big Hill, the South Trail offers a beautiful panoramic view of the Galisteo Basin and surrounding mountain ranges.

The Shelf Trail provides an alternate route on the Big Hill that traverses a flat area below the peak. It has a steep section to gain access to the flat area, but it will be far less rocky than the South Trail and may thus provide a better alternative for equestrians. The total length of the Shelf Trail will be about 4/10 of a mile.

Arroyo Trails are wide, sandy arroyos open to foot and horse traffic as well as bicycles that can negotiate the sandy surface. They include the Arroyo de los Angeles (just under one mile in length on Dovetail) and its unnamed tributary coming from the northwest corner of the property (about ½ mile). The Arroyo de los Angeles continues as a trail alignment for several miles to the east and west in the Galisteo Basin Preserve, while the “Northwest Arroyo” provides access to GBP’s “Galante’s Gambol” just as it leaves Dovetail.

Dovetail Trails in place
North Trail, w Connection to GBP:  0.9 miles
North Trail Connectors: 0.2 miles
South Trail: 1.4 miles
Arroyo de los Angeles: 1.0 miles
Northwest Arroyo: 0.4 miles
Shelf Trail: 0.4 miles
Total Length: 4.0 miles

The Santa Fe Conservation Trust (SFCT) wants to show you the power of conservation at Dovetail and its four miles of trails.  In March 2020, thanks to the support of the Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw Charitable Trust, SFCT was able to purchase this 300-acre parcel in the Galisteo Basin that, had it been developed, would have created a housing cluster in an otherwise wide-open landscape. This is a place where people have lived for centuries and is the unceded territory of the Tewa and Tano people, who were the original stewards of the land.  It is also home to many native plants and animals, and part of an important corridor allowing plants and animals the ability to roam and adapt to a changing climate.  And because of the density of conservation easements held by SFCT in this area, it is a major focal point for our conservation work and an area where we work to connect our protected properties to provide critical connectivity to impact the loss of biodiversity and climate change in this region. Dovetail also offered SFCT the opportunity to provide you with more public recreation through a four-mile trail system that links to the existing 50 miles of trails at the Galisteo Basin Preserve.  And finally, because SFCT is committed to providing equitable access to nature, Dovetail’s public access will, in early 2026, include an accessible trail for people with mobility challenges.

How Dovetail Contributes to Landscape-Scale Conservation

The biodiversity crisis and climate change also presented an opportunity for SFCT to show how our focus on connectivity and landscape-scale conservation could positively impact these two existential threats.  Of the more than 46,000 acres we currently protect in northern New Mexico, none is perhaps more threatened by these issues than the Galisteo Basin Watershed, where SFCT has more than 17,000 acres protected.  It is one of the larger stretches of privately owned lands in the Western Wildway Network, a wildlife corridor stretching along the spine of the continent, from Alaska, through the Rocky Mountains, all the way south to the Sierra Madre Occidental in Mexico.  Dovetail gave SFCT the opportunity to stop a development cluster in this important wildlife corridor and showcase restoration methods that will improve the biodiversity of this unique area.

Long-Term Land Restoration is Underway at Dovetail

Surrounded by almost 6,000 acres of contiguous SFCT conservation easements, the purchase of Dovetail is a huge leap forward in protecting the remnants of Native American habitation, telling the stories of the land, and plugging a potential development cluster.  The Thaw Charitable Trust wanted to see the land return to a more natural state, so part of their support helped SFCT address the health of the land by reseeding the Headquarters area where buildings used to be to support habitat for wildlife and native/migratory birds.  Because Dovetail’s piñon/juniper terrain is similar to that of many other landowners, workshops and workdays on erosion control techniques occurred in early 2021 through today to teach people how to mitigate erosion, slow runoff, and spread rainwater, healing the land.  Swampers and sawyers have helped take out the invasive Siberian Elms and junipers in an overgrown ephemeral wetland.  Subsequent workdays involved building wicker weirs to force water to meander through the wetland so it could deposit sediments and sink back into the aquifer.

Our ten year management goals include finishing the accessible trail, installing wildlife drinkers, improving the rangelands, restoring the areas where the buildings used to be, continuing to build erosion control structures, bringing the wetland back to life, building partnerships and collaborations, installing interpretive signage and implementing educational programs for people of all ages.  We hope you’ll join us in this work!

Dovetail is a special place of wide-open views and peacefulness, multidimensional history, and a place where anyone can come to relax, recreate, and experience nature.  We hope that the restoration projects underway at Dovetail will inspire others to nurture and care for their land, and that the experience of being on the property will build a passionate, curious, informed, and diverse conservation community while igniting a passion for nature in all who visit.