Resident birds include Montezuma Quail and Bridled Titmouse. In summer look for Common Black-Hawk; Blue Grosbeak; Indigo Bunting; and Yellow-billed Cuckoo.

In 1994, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) established the Mimbres River Preserve in southwestern New Mexico, near Silver City. The preserve is an irreplaceable riparian area covering 600 acres and 5 river miles. The river is a closed-basin desert stream—meaning its surface water never flows out of the Mimbres River basin. But over its 40-mile length, the Mimbres covers a wide and diverse landscape, from its headwaters near 10,000 feet in the Aldo Leopold Wilderness of the Gila National Forest to its terminus in the Chihuahuan Desert grasslands near the Mexican border.

The Mimbres watershed includes dense forests of Douglas fir and ponderosa pine, piñon-juniper savanna, desert grasslands, Chihuahuan desert scrub, riparian forests, cienegas (or marshes), springs and stream reaches that may be perennial, intermittent, or ephemeral.

The basin, located between the mountains of the Mogollon Rim, the Rio Grande watershed, and the Chihuahuan Desert, has been alternatively isolated from and connected with other river systems over time. As a result, the Mimbres has evolved a remarkably diverse fauna and flora, including a handful of species, such as the Chihuahua chub, that are found nowhere else in the United States.

The waters of the Mimbres, replenished by abundant summer rainfall in the upper basin, also support an extensive network of cottonwood-willow forests, sacaton floodplain grasslands (a coarse perennial grass), hot and cold springs and other rare riparian communities.

From Deming, take US-180 northwest for 24 miles, then drive northeast on NM-61 for 4 miles to the park access road. 
From Silver City, take US-180 southeast for 29 miles to the junction with NM-61.

The preserve’s self-guided trail allows you to learn as you go. At the trailhead, you will find a pamphlet containing blocks of information corresponding to each of a series of numbered markers along the trail.

The AllTrails website has a description and map of a hike at Mimbres River Preserve.