In reserves: 'Conserving America’s Wildlands' combines dramatic photography with the NMMNHS collection

Ted Turner is an American entrepreneur, television producer, media proprietor and philanthropist.

The Turner family owns 23 properties across the United States — each with a goal of conservation.

Part of the effort is chronicled in the exhibit, “Conserving America’s Wildlands: The Vision of Ted Turner,” which is open at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science.

The exhibit features wildland photography by his son, Rhett Turner.

In reserves: 'Conserving America’s Wildlands' combines dramatic photography with the NMMNHS collection

“There are three Turner properties (in New Mexico),” says Anthony Fiorillo, NMMNHS executive director. “I started asking questions about what stories could we tell to combine with the unique traveling exhibit. We wanted to look at how our permanent collections can be used to tie the story together.”

Turner owns more than one million acres of land in the state of New Mexico, which include the 550,000-acre Vermejo reserve in the northern, Rocky Mountain region; the 156,000-acre Ladder reserve at the base of the Black Range in the southern desert basin region; and the 360,000-acre Armendaris reserve in the Chihuahuan Desert.

The reserves are home to a variety of large land conservation and endangered species efforts, including the restoration of vital habitats, reintroduction of native flora and fauna and forest management to protect the state from catastrophic wildfires.

“Conserving America’s Wildlands” showcases dramatic landscape panoramas and wildlife portraits that capture a herd of bison on the move with calves in tow, and a mountain laurel plant as it springs into bloom.

Dozens of high-resolution images capturing the diversity of landscapes that comprise our nation — mangrove swamps, grasslands, old-growth forests and barrier islands — will be on view as part of the exhibition.

These images will be accompanied by more than 35 objects from NMMNHS Research Collections — the largest of its kind in the Southwestern United States — and the University of New Mexico’s Museum of Southwestern Biology.

These specimens range from the present day to more than 65 million years ago, including fossils from a Sierraceratops turneri discovered on a Turner property in New Mexico, a hadrosaur femur, and skulls and horns from three different bison, one modern and two extinct. The exhibition also showcases a grizzly bear skull from the last known specimen in New Mexico, alongside a skull from the gray wolf that began reintroduction efforts in New Mexico.

“It’s compelling because of its aesthetic value,” Fiorillo says. “It’s also got a compelling conservation story. It’s highlighted by actual specimens that the public doesn’t usually get to see.”

Matt Celeskey, NMMNHS head of exhibits, and his team took on the challenge of pairing specimens from the museum’s permanent collection to the photographs.

He says there are a lot of New Mexico conservation stories tied in with the Turner properties and the museum’s collections.

“There’s critical conservation stories happening in every corner of New Mexico and we have a lot of big stories to tell here,” he says. “But this exhibit is part of a larger effort about appreciating the experience of wild lands and gathering knowledge of how to preserve those areas.”

Fiorillo says this is the second stop for the traveling exhibit.

In the 2023 Legislative session, Turner and the Turner Foundation were recognized for philanthropy and contribution to large land conservation.

Senate Memorial 62 was introduced and sponsored by Senator Joseph Cervantes, Democratic Senator from District 31, who is also a standing member of the Senate Conservation Committee.

The bill recognizes Ted Turner as the largest private landowner in New Mexico, converting the historic properties he owns into nature reserves to share with the public, and honors the Turner Foundation for philanthropic donations of nearly $1.2 million in grants to various youth, conservation and education organizations in New Mexico.

The bill also observes that Ted Turner Reserves, the hospitality company behind the guest operations on these New Mexico properties, has contributed more than $2.8 million in tax revenues to the state since its conception in 2019.

Rhett Turner has built upon his father’s legacy as an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker and acclaimed photographer.

“Rhett Turner’s stunning photography captures some of America’s wildest places and the flora and fauna that inhabit them as they are meant to be perceived,” Fiorillo says. “These striking photos will be paired with never-before-seen specimens from the museum’s research collections, reminding us that life on our planet is always worthy of conservation.”