Southwestern Region

Sherwood Ranch Pueblo
Formerly known as the Raven Ruin, this 300-room Pueblo located in Apache County was donated to the Conservancy by landowners Ruth and Wendell Sherwood in 2003. Situated along the Little Colorado River, the pueblo has two occupation periods: AD 1250-1300 and 1310-1370. The site, considered to be ancestral to both the Hopi and Zuni, was one of the largest and last settlements to be inhabited prior to a general migration to the north and east. The site was partially excavated by the White Mountain Archaeological Center from the mid-1980s through the 1990s. This project was partially funded through the assistance of an Arizona Heritage Fund grant.

Mission Guevavi 
Situated along the banks of the Santa Cruz River in Santa Cruz County, this ruin represents Father Kino’s first mission in what is now the United States. Rancher Ralph Wingfield donated the preserve to the Conservancy in 1988. Guevavi has been designated as part of Tumacacori National Historical Park and has been transferred to the National Park Service.

Arroyo Hondo Pueblo 
Situated five miles south of Santa Fe in Santa Fe County, Arroyo Hondo Pueblo was first established in the early AD 1300s. The stone and adobe pueblo grew to over 1000 rooms. The pueblo had two occupation periods: AD 1300-1345 and AD 1370-1425. The School of American Research extensively investigated the site in the 1970s. The School of American Research transferred this 20-acre preserve to the Conservancy in 2003. Learn more in the online database.

Aerial View of Arroyo Hondo Pueblo.

Fort Craig 
Situated along the Rio Grande just south of Socorro in Socorro County, this Civil War-era Union stronghold was an important frontier post. Donated to the Conservancy by the Armendaris Corporation in 1981, this 160-acre preserve has been transferred to the Bureau of Land Management and interpreted for the public.

Lamb Spring
This 35-acre preserve, located near Denver in Douglas County, contains the remains of at least 24 mammoths along with other Pleistocene animals including camel and sloth. It was acquired in 1995 as the Conservancy’s 100th preserve. Partially excavated in the 1960s and again in the 1980s by the Smithsonian, the site contains possible evidence of man’s presence dating back 13,000 years. At a higher level in the site, an 8,000-year-old Cody complex bison kill was discovered. The Conservancy formed a unique alliance with the Denver Museum of Science and Nature and Douglas County to acquire, preserve, study and interpret the site. The acquisition was made possible in part by an Historical Fund grant administered through the Colorado Historical Society.

Yellowjacket Pueblo
Considered the largest ruin in Colorado, this Mesa Verde pueblo has an estimated 2,000 surface rooms, 192 kivas, 27 towers and a Great Kiva. Yellowjacket is located northwest of Cortez, Colorado. It has one of the highest density of ceremonial structures ever found. Read more about Yellowjacket Pueblo.

Cabe Mounds
Located in Bowie County just north of Texarkana, Mr. Horace Cabe donated a 50-acre easement to the Conservancy to protect this seven-mound Caddo ceremonial complex in 1986. The Caddo lived along the Red River and its tributaries in the four-state region of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana from AD 800 until the time of Spanish and French contact. Cabe Mounds represents one of nine Caddo preserves established by the Conservancy in the region.

Burnham Site
This 135-acre preserve located in Woods County preserves a geological and paleontological record of late Pleistocene life including tantalizing suggestions of man’s presence dating to between 30,000 and 40,000 years ago. Discovered in 1986 by the Burnham family who owned the land, the site has been tested by Don Wyckoff of the University of Oklahoma.

Red Smoke Site
Situated in Frontier County, this 40-acre Paleo-Indian preserve contains buried cultural remains dating from 8,000 to 10,000 years ago. The site was partially excavated in the 1950s in advance of a dam construction project. The site yielded evidence of its use as a campsite and a quarry.

Hedley Pueblo
This 71-acre preserve in San Juan County contains the remains of three large Mesa Verde Anasazi ruin complexes dating from early Pueblo II to late Pueblo III times (AD 1000-1300). The ruin is one of the largest Mesa Verde complexes ever recorded. The Conservancy has preserved a total of 14 Mesa Verde sites in the Four Corners region.