Kurt Schumacher, a lead organizer for Brazos Firewise, has been an engaged and dynamic leader in the FACNM Network for just over a year. He and the Brazos Firewise group have contributed valuable lessons and insights as they work to strengthen wildfire adaptation in Brazos Canyon. Their efforts highlight not only the progress that can be made at the community level, but the experiences and takeaways shared here reflect how collective knowledge and partnership can accelerate resilience-building far beyond what any one individual could achieve alone.
Below, Kurt shares how Brazos Firewise got its start, what the group has learned along the way, and how their growing partnerships with State Forestry, FACNM, and others are helping the whole community move toward greater wildfire resilience.
Brazos Canyon
The Rio Brazos is one of the rivers feeding the Rio Grande in north central New Mexico and encompasses about 270,000 acres which is divided into about a thousand parcels. The beautiful river valley at about 8000 ft (+/- 300 ft) was logged to support rail development and community growth in the early 1900’s, but since then, the forests have continued to grow unchecked until today.
The Brazos Canyon has largely been a ranching and recreation community, with large ranches in the upper reaches of the valley and small to mid-sized lots on the valley floor, with an estimated 2/3s of the community being second homes.
Organization Foundation
The Brazos became one of New Mexico’s early Firewise communities about 15 years ago. Fire department leadership took the lead and began mitigation with annual chipping events, paying for a crew and chipper for many years, alongside the offers of neighbors helping neighbors. After some time, the effort languished. However, after a few Brazos neighbors attended the 2022 Rio Chama Congreso and learned of the dire drought conditions, forecast, and fire propensity, that year, a couple of neighbors decided they should take action.
Getting Started
Using community development principals, the neighbors set out to find out about important issues in the neighborhood. The team sent out surveys to all the valley neighbors and based on the response, discovered overwhelming support and interest in participation in fire mitigation. (Like all mail surveys, responses may have been biased as respondents self-select whether or not to respond.) Survey results highlighted specific neighbors needs, including need for a vendors list for mitigation services and financial assistance, but respondents also demonstrated a strong willingness to help each other. Key concerns also included concern about the single road in and out of the Brazos.
The founders of the revived Brazos Firewise developed a 5-year plan for their fire mitigation effort, worked with neighbors to recruit help from other neighbors, and began establishing alliances with the local State District Forester, Jose Carillo, and the Forest Stewards Guild, who was a key organizer and participant at the Rio Chama Congreso. Brazos Firewise leadership decided to hold annual meetings to inform neighbors about the survey, funding opportunities, and latest techniques and findings about fire mitigation techniques.
Subdivision Leaders
Data from the original survey indicated that many residents described their location in the valley based on their subdivision, so the organization has identified supportive leaders in each subdivision to carry the word back to their community. The cohesion in subdivision varies, but the Firewise program has stimulated more community meetings and glue to keep the conversation fresh. Each of the key leaders has a strong tie to their community/subdivision, with about half the leadership team being full-time residents and about the same number second homeowners. All of the team though, shares a strong desire to live in the picturesque valley with abundant wildlife and recreation opportunities and each of them feels a sense of responsibility to maintain the valley for future generations.
Highlighted below are a few of these leaders (about 10 more are critical to the Brazos Firewise effort).
Jane W. - Co-Reinvigorator (retired), As a former city manager, Jane brought organization and sense of purpose to the team. While she has since moved from the area, the organization, energy, and cooperation she fostered among team members and with outside agencies continues to benefit the team. Strong foundations lead to optimistic futures.
Kurt S. – Co-Reinvigorator, an economist with community development experience. Kurt’s data and planning skills helped chart a plan of action to get the team started. He loves the valley, the diversity of characters in the Brazos and wielding a chainsaw. Direction has to come from the community.
Vallarie G. –Vallerie has been at every event and participates fully. After realizing the need to reduce fuels in the valley, Valerie started a small business to do mitigation. In 2025, she alone transported about 40 tons - 1/3 of the total tonnage of limbs and other green waste that have shipped from the valley. While she has many paying customers, Valarie contributes a significant portion of the waking hours to help mitigate for low-income seniors who comprise a significant portion of the valley’s residents. Never doubt the ability of a single individual to make a difference.
Meredith P. – Meredith lives in the upper reaches of the valley and loves living in the forest, but sees the potential for a catastrophic fire. As a professional digital marketer and community influencer, Meredith has been responsible for getting the word out and growing the outreach not only for the fire mitigation effort, but for developing a sense of community in the Brazos.
Lee and Valarie W. – longtime residents of the Brazos, Lee and Valarie have been instrumental in making the program a success. From donating the use of their large-scale chipper and staff to operate it, to coordinating their neighborhood’s participation, and sponsoring community events, Lee and Valarie are leaders among the large property owners. They have been instrumental in efforts that will eventually lead to moving the valley from “High Fire Severity Threat” to “Moderate. ” In 2025, approximately 900 acres of the ranch forests will be thinned using masticator and hand thinning. While our defensible space efforts will hopefully reduce the impacts of fire by saving lives and property, the forest health will be dependent upon largescale efforts to reduce forest density.
Vision
Brazos Firewise’s key goal is to reduce the fire severity threat in the watershed from very high to moderate. To achieve this goal, they’ve had to enroll partners throughout the valley.
The key goal has always been to reduce fuels, but with 270,000 acres of overgrown forest, the team had to prioritize. The Brazos River Valley has a single road providing access to the majority of parcels, meaning improving residents’ ability to safely exit the valley in the event of a fire and creating defensible space for existing homes has become the priority. Fortunately, the State of New Mexico Highways and State Forestry have been supportive and through a memorandum of understanding, (MOU) created in 2024, State Forestry will hire contractors to clear the right-of way along the State Road beginning in September 2025. This roadway project will dramatically improve the safety of people who need to exit the valley for any emergency, but particularly when inevitable fires occur.
State Forestry, with the Upper Chama Soil and Water Conservation District as fiscal agent, will also begin to create defensible space for property owners through a CDWG grant. Property assessment began during the summer of 2025 and vendors are expected to begin to complete mitigation around homes for the over 60 applicants who applied over the last couple of years.
While the roadway clearing and defensible space grants will help small property owners prepare for fire, reducing the fore severity threat requires large “landscape scale” efforts. Fortunately, the large property owners are also onboard and during the summer of 2025, from June to August, over 600 acres of mastication was completed by large ranches through grants coordinated through the Chama Peak Land Alliance.
Network Impact
FACNM has always been the most relevant source of information that is tailored to New Mexico residents. The Brazos Firewise team’s favorite brochure for public meetings is also “Living with Fire.”
“In addition, year after year, FACNM has been giving our team a much-needed lift to help get the word out in a professional fashion and is challenging us to go beyond Firewise to fire adapted. In 2024, FACNM and the Forest Stewards Guild helped our team create a video summarizing the fire severity threat in the Brazos Valley and the need for action. It’s been a leading draw on our website. This year, [a FACNM Program Coordinator] came to our annual community meeting and helped our neighbors to not just prepare for fire, but challenged us to begin to think about sustainability and life after the inevitable fire, which leads to a real paradigm shift.
Connections developed through FACNM have been really valuable. FACNM coordinators helped us to cultivate a relationship with Staci Matlock, which led to the application of a fire simulation software that has helped our neighbors imagine just how volatile a fire can be in our community, and just how critical prompt action by fire personnel is to prevent catastrophic events.”
Advice for others
Community input is the best way to start. By conducting a survey at the outset, Brazos Firewise was able to both explode myths (e.g. residents aren’t willing to cut trees), determine resident’s key concerns (forest density, lack of defensible space and safe egress), and identify paths to overcome perceived obstacles to getting started (vendor list, chipping events, and grant opportunities.)
Their effort to reinvigorate the program has been able to resurrect good work that was done in the past, rekindle relationships, and acknowledge past efforts while learning from past program’s shortcomings.
Partnerships with all the players are essential and will allow programs to sustain. Individual and organizations efforts will ebb and flow, but with partnerships built on trust, individual shortcomings are replaced with group action and mutual support.
Accomplishments and Moments of Pride
The Brazos Firewise team has accomplished a lot and they feel the “all hands, all lands” slogan has particular relevance for their team. Many of the efforts to reduce the fire severity threat completed in the Brazos had a champion, but the cumulative effort and energy far exceeds the individual efforts.
A list of accomplishments by Brazos Firewise includes:
Developing a Five-year Master plan
Establishing a chipping program which has doubled in scope and number of events for each of the past 3 years (seven chipping events in 2025)
Establishing a website and online newsletter with regular targeted emails
Completing a video for the website and highlighting the need for vacant property owner participation.
Supporting the completion of a CWPP for the county and highlighting Brazos Canyon fire mitigation efforts
Creating a Firewise demonstration home annually and holding an educational and volunteer event each year.
Recruiting and developing Firewise leaders from each subdivision
Developing a vendor list so residents have a list of local companies to support their mitigation efforts.
Hosting at least one annual community education event, with increasing attendance each year
Supporting the volunteer fire department, including jointly advertising and staffing chipping events, fostering increased firefighter recruitment, and jointly soliciting community funds for both the fire mitigation and firefighting efforts.
Educating neighbors on the benefits of landscape scale efforts underway by large property owners.
Implementing an awards program highlighting support from partners and mitigation efforts by neighbors
Regularly acknowledging the excellent work and support by our team members and our partners including District Forester Jose Carillo and Mike Andresen, in the district Foresters office; FACNM and Forest Stewards Guild staff including Megan Rangel Lynch, Rachel Bean, and Sarah DeMay; the staff and board of the Upper Chama Soil and Water Conversation Board; Maya Machamer of ISET International; BCVFD Fire Chief Catherine Praiswater, board and BCVFD firefighters; and the Brazos fire mitigation team of subdivision leaders who have led this effort tirelessly for the past 3 years.
Like all good efforts- there’s rarely one sole person responsible, but plenty of credit to be shared for good work and the need to acknowledge great work completed.
