Closed to the public since 1932, the Upper Santa Fe Watershed has undergone a dramatic transformation during the past decade to protect our watershed and water supply. Using management tools such as mechanical thinning and prescribed burning, the City of Santa Fe and U.S. Forest Service along with the Santa Fe Watershed Association have been working over the last several years to restore the forest.

These FREE tours are your opportunity to learn about the restoration efforts and catch a glimpse of this nearly pristine forest that supplies 45% of the City’s drinking water supply. During a 5 mile round trip hike through The Nature Conservancy’s Santa Fe Canyon Preserve and the Upper Santa Fe Watershed, experts from the Santa Fe Watershed Association, the City of Santa Fe, and U.S. Forest Service lead participants on a hike to Agua Sarca, visiting Nichols Reservoir and covering topics such as the history of Santa Fe’s drinking water supply, how the reservoir systems work, forest thinning and healthy forest ecology, the role of beavers in our watershed, and other topics about the ecology of the Santa Fe Watershed. Hikes have limited availability and each participant must pre-register.

Hikes for the spring and summer 2022 are Saturdays from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm on-

• April 30, 2022
• May 21, 2022
• June 4, 2022 (this is an ADA accessible van tour for participants who are unable to hike 5 miles and a guest)
• June 11, 2022
• more dates to come

                                   CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Thank you to the City of Santa Fe for its support of this program.

To be added to our free e-mail listserv for hike announcements along with other watershed information, please click to Sign up for our weekly e-newsletter.