The Malpai Borderlands area is on the Arizona, New Mexico, Mexico border hosts more than 8 federally-listed endangered species. In response to public scrutiny and regulatory oversight associated with these species, area ranchers turned to The Nature Conservancy (TNC) to forge the most the successful TNC-Land Trust partnership in the country, The Malpai Borderlands Group.

The foundation for the partnership is a recognition that science is the basis for court and congressional decisions, so better to embrace it than to ignore it. The ranchers established a land trust whose board is comprised entirely of local ranchers. Willing landowners sell their development rights to the land trust, and are given money, or grazing rights in exchange for their conservation commitment.

The end result is a disparate group of people who all understand and subscribe to the common language of conservation science, and who use this language to collectively and proactively direct their land use decisions.