We surveyed vegetation at 100 sites in southern New Mexico to establish a benchmark for monitoring vegetation change. Sites were selected in a stratified random design based on a classified AVHRR image. Two shrubs (Larrea tridentata and Prosopis glandulosa) are the most important contributors to perennial cover in the area. Principal components analysis (PCA) and detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) both clearly delineate these shrublands from the smaller number of compositionally varied grassland sites. A latitudinal trend in DCA axis 1 scores suggests that encroachment of shrubs into grasslands is most pronounced in the southern portion of the study area.