Commonweal works collaboratively with clients and partners to facilitate multi-party real estate transactions, plan for smart and environmentally sensitive community development, and help heal and restore neighborhoods and landscapes.

First, we identify ecologically and culturally significant landscapes threatened by sprawling "business as usual" growth patterns. If traditional open space funding is not available-and if a range of community interests can be advanced by environmentally responsible development-then Commonweal can work with landowners, activists and policy makers to craft land use plans and development programs that serve a mix of conservation and place-making objectives.

Our goals are to work with public and nonprofit partners to protect precious open space and provide for other social needs, such as housing, schools, and economic development. We take an active role in the site selection, purchase negotiation, programming, land use entitlement, and property sales of the real estate development process.

We advise landowners on how to create conservation easements overlaying their properties that will preserve important wildlife habitat areas, scenic vistas, agricultural or recreation lands or cultural resources. We can also work closely with landowners in helping them prepare the required documents to qualify for a state tax credit through the New Mexico Conservation Incentive Act Program.

We often refer to our work as "regenerative community building" because it aims not only to protect and restore land, but also to foster the continual development of a community's capabilities. More than just proposing new models for development and conservation, Commonweal aims to inspire the evolution of respectful relationships between landscape and community.