Seven Continents, Seven Sustainable Tourism Adventures

Story by Elaine Glusac

Spot Wildlife on a Conservation Reserve in New Mexico

For media mogul and philanthropist Ted Turner, one of the largest landholders in the U.S., opening his vast ranches to guests both helps fund his conservation efforts and relay an ecotourism message. Ted Turner Reserves encompasses 1.1 million acres spread across three properties: two – Ladder and Armendaris ranches – in southwestern New Mexico and another, Vermejo, in mountainous northern New Mexico and southern Colorado.

“Ted Turner Reserves uses private money to preserve land, so from a tourism perspective, you have access to an exclusive experience, but with conservation at the heart of it,” says Virtuoso advisor Margarita Fedorova.

Start by renting Turner’s five-bedroom home at Ladder ranch, refuge to wild bison herds and wolf packs, then head to Armendaris for day trips to meet biologists breeding Bolson tortoises and to hike the Fra Cristobal Mountains. (Day trips to Armendaris and Ladder ranches can also be made from Sierra Grande, a Ted Turner Retreat in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico.) Finally, below snowcapped peaks, Vermejo offers a range of accommodations plus American safaris to view wild horses and fish for native Rio Grande cutthroat trout, restored to the alpine streams.