Conservation, from the first question to a lasting outcome
Terra Alta brings together conservation advisory, planning, and specialized New Mexico brokerage to help landowners and organizations evaluate opportunities, set priorities, and complete complex land projects.
$250m+
Value of land and conservation projects to-date
200,000+
Acres transacted and protected, across lead & supporting roles
15
States with successful project outcomes
175
Conservation and brokerage projects successfully completed
Support for every stage of the conservation process
Conservation typically runs through five stages and numerous activities that require specific expertise. Projects rarely fail on the idea. They fail in the gaps between the stages.
Strategy
Determining which conservation strategies are feasible on the ground, and how the available options interact, overlap, and affect one another.
Analysis
Determining where the conservation value lies, and how the property aligns with the priorities of funders, easement holders and other stakeholders.
Funding
Identifying which entities and programs could potentially fund the project, understanding their timelines, and positioning the project to compete for funding.
Due Diligence
Coordinating appraisals, surveys, title work, negotiations, and other project activities to keep the process moving toward a successful outcome.
Outcome
Ensuring all requirements are satisfied, funding is secured, and every stakeholder understands their role in bringing the project to its desired outcome.
Terra Alta covers all five. That is unusual, and it is the whole point.
Normally this work requires multiple firms
A planning firm decides where protection should go. An advisor works out whether it is possible and what it costs. A project manager ensures the project is completed on time and within budget. A broker sometimes handles the transaction. Each performs a defined role, then hands the project to the next. Each is competent within their individual scope, but rarely responsible for the outcome as a whole.
Terra Alta was built to serve these roles. Its principal, Michael Scisco, has worked every one of those seats over:
10 years in the non-profit land trust industry
15 years as a private conservation advisor
20 years of mapping and spatial analysis at a geospatial firm
10 years as a New Mexico Real Estate Broker
Terra Alta covers conservation from start to forever.
The three ways Terra Alta works
Conservation Advisory · Nationally
Evaluating which conservation outcomes a property can realistically support and helping clients determine the best path for the land, their family, their financial goals, and their long-term vision.
Then managing the project through each stage—from negotiations and due diligence to appraisal, survey, funding, documentation, and a successful closing.
Conservation Planning · Nationally
A practical prioritization framework clients can adopt and partners can act on—using defensible criteria, consistent spatial analysis, and clear recommendations about which properties to pursue first.
Built by someone who has closed the types of real estate transactions these plans are designed to produce.
Conservation Brokerage in New Mexico
In New Mexico, a property’s value often depends on more than acreage. Water rights, agricultural productivity, elk authorizations, views, land cover, improvements, and conservation easement terms can all influence its value.
Our approach includes conventional valuation of the land and improvements while also identifying and evaluating the less obvious attributes that distinguish the property and shape its market position.
Examples of our work
Buffalo Creek Wilderness
Conservation Advisory · North Carolina
A state wildlife agency wanted the property and there was no money on the table.
Terra Alta developed the $13.5 million Forest Legacy application that positioned it for acquisition, and assembled the conservation, mapping, and transaction case to compete.
Travis County Parks Plan
Conservation Planning · Texas
A fast-growing county needed a defensible answer to why a certain parcel was appropriate for conservation as opposed to another one.
Terra Alta helped build the prioritization model behind it and contributed the recommendations that turned it into an acquisition sequence.
A 2,470-acre Conservation Sale
Conservation Brokerage · New Mexico
Most brokers treat a recorded easement as a defect to be minimized.
Terra Alta marketed it as a specification and found the buyer who wanted exactly that, closing with the cattle operation and the protection both intact.
Insights
Practical guidance on conservation strategy, planning, funding, and land transactions—along with informed perspectives on buying and selling property in New Mexico.
Start with the property and the questions
Tell us what you own or manage and what you are trying to decide. The first step is working out what the property can realistically support, what each available path would require, and whether any of them are worth pursuing.