The Mesteño Draw Ranch, established in 1991 by Joan Bybee, is located 7 miles north of Mountainair, New Mexico along the base of the Manzano Mountains within a Piñón/Juniper Grassland ecosystem. Mesteño Draw, as Joan has named her section of the creek, is the lower extension of Ox Canyon that rises from a spring in the Manzano Mountains and continues into the closed Estancia Basin. These are historic lands with old pinto bean fields and five different homestead sites dotting the landscape. Joan is in the process of rejuvenating the ranch and riparian area with brush removal and managed grazing. Mesteño Draw once provided continual water to homesteads and was used to irrigate lawns in Mountainair. Due to many factors that include drought, fire suppression, juniper invasion, and year-round grazing, the creek no longer has a perennial flow.
