Closed to the public since 1932, the Upper Santa Fe Watershed (or Municipal Watershed) has undergone a dramatic transformation during the past two decades 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 20+ years to restore the forest to a time when fire naturally burned through the area and mitigate the impact from a wildfire to our water supply.

These FREE tours are your opportunity to learn about the restoration efforts and catch a glimpse of this nearly pristine forest that supplies about 30% 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 Municipal 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.

Dates for hikes that will take place in summer and fall of 2025 will be announced in the spring. Hikes have limited availability and each participant must pre-register.

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

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