Desertification is the result of both natural and anthropogenic influences. Certain deserts, such as the Chihuanhuan Desert of North America, are particularly vulnerable to desertification because they lie in ecotonal positions between drier and wetter biomes. This study is being conducted in southern New Mexico at the Jornada Experimental Range as part of the Jornada Basin Long Term Ecological Research program. The primary objective is to understand how the soil-geomorphic template on a piedmont slope influences desertification that has been monitored since 1858. Aerial photos are being ground-truthed to produce a detailed soil-geomorphic map which will then be overlaid as a GIS layer on vegetation maps made in 1858, 1915, 1928, and 1998. The soil-geomorphic template influences vegetation by its controls on water and its interrelation with wind. The three dimensional configuration of the piedmont slope and soil infiltration properties determine the lateral and vertical movement of water and has an important impact on the encroachment of woody shrubs into perennial grasslands. Bare, desertified soils are a source of medium to fine sand that is blown upslope in the direction of the prevailing wind. Finer particles of silt and organic matter are continually lost from the ecosystem and represent a transfer of material from one region to another.