GNA Spotlight, New Mexico, April 2025
Authored by George Ducker
In the fall of 2024, work began on a new phase of the Santa Fe Mountain Lands Resiliency Project, which is authorized under a Good Neighbor Authority Agreement between the Santa Fe National Forest and the New Mexico Forestry Division.
In the immediate term, this 2-6 month project phase will complete 296 acres of hand thinning and piling within the Santa Fe National Forest in fiscal year (FY) 25, which will allow for future pile-burning and broadcast burning. Focusing on ponderosa pine and mixed conifer landscapes will help the New Mexico capital city of Santa Fe increase its resiliency to threats from high-severity wildfire.
Utilizing Forest and Watershed Restoration Act funds, the thinning treatments will play an integral role in helping restore fire to this fire-adapted landscape. Thinned units will also serve as fire breaks and fire lines for future prescribed burn units. Annual thinning followed by burning will allow for methodical treatment to the larger landscape over the course of the next ten years, with an intended 350-acre minimum completion projection each year.
This project will prioritize hiring local professional contractors to complete the mechanical thinning, hand thinning, and hand piling when possible.
While the number of acres treated are always a measure of success for any project, another focus will be to measure how many acres were restored by prescribed fire and to consider how treatment placement contributes to larger landscape resiliency.
The Santa Fe Fireshed includes large areas ranked within the top 500 watersheds for high wildfire risk to both nearby communities and water supplies. This type of collaboration between federal and state agencies exemplifies the intent of the Shared Stewardship Agreement signed by Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham and the Forest Service in 2019. Additionally, this agreement meets objectives highlighted within the Forestry Division’s 2020 Forest Action Plan.
The New Mexico Forestry Division wishes to thank the partners in this collaborative effort and their commitment to ongoing shared priorities in the state of New Mexico.
For more information, contact Lawrence Crane, Bernalillo District Forester, NM Forestry Division, at lawrence.crane@emnrd.nm.gov or Santa Fe National Forest at 505-438-5300.