Wildfire Wednesdays #164: A Rancher's Guide to Wildfire Readiness and Resilience

Hello my fellow FACNM Network members,

Ranchers and landowners in New Mexico face a constant balancing act, adapting to drought, floods, extreme temperatures, market swings, and now, increasingly severe wildfire seasons. Wildfires can be especially costly and dangerous on working lands, and the risks are different from those in residential areas, requiring unique planning and preparation.

The recent and ongoing Laguna Fire, which claimed livestock and threatened ranches in northern New Mexico, is a reminder of how quickly a moving fire can impact agricultural operations. While adapting to wildfire may feel overwhelming, planning and decision-making before smoke is on the horizon are essential for protecting land, livestock, and livelihoods. The information below is a collection of resources to serve as a starting point to help producers live and ranch more safely with wildfire.

This Wildfire Wednesday features:

Stay safe,
Megan

Wildfire: Preparing the Ranch

Texas A&M developed a comprehensive educational resource to help agricultural producers and ranchers better prepare for future wildfires. It provides essential knowledge and practical tools focused on wildfire preparedness, including risk management strategies, infrastructure protection, livestock evacuation planning, and a detailed master checklist.

Key tips from the resource include:

  • When wildfire season begins to approach, implementing a rotation plan that brings the animals closer to headquarters for either flash grazing or potential evacuation can be advantageous. Pre-planned rotation management with specific considerations for herd/fire location are key when having to move quickly and efficiently.

  • Ranch tours with Volunteer Fire Department members and chiefs can be implemented prior to fire season so that all first responders are aware of cattle rotations, gate locations and pasture accessibility.

  • It is best to spread hay storage locations across the ranch to reduce the risk of it all burning at once. Some insurance companies will only insure a specific number of hay bales or a total value of hay in a stack, as well as having a required distance between insured haystack locations. Confirm any of these details with an insurance agent for specific policy details, such as tons/rolls of hay in one location.

A more concise resource covering similar topics is this trifold brochure, created by Nationwide in collaboration with the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS).

 
 

Livestock Evacuation

The University of Wyoming Extension, in partnership with Colorado State University Extension and Montana State University Extension, developed a resource on livestock evacuation. It covers key topics such as animal behavior, movement mechanics, hauling considerations, and more. While the material applies to a range of emergency situations, not just wildfires, it is designed to help producers act quickly and effectively when disaster strikes.

“ If livestock cannot reliably be moved to an area where they
would not be impacted for 24–72 hours, then measures should
be taken to move them to the best defensible space available
in a short‑term.”
— MP‑145.8 Practical Livestock Evaluation
 

North Carolina Extension developed a ranch fire preparation plan template that can be used to create a written evacuation strategy. This plan helps outline what steps to take and who to contact in the event of a wildfire. Once completed, it should be shared with key individuals involved in your operation, such as your spouse, business partners, employees, and local agencies, to ensure everyone is informed and prepared.

Fire Recovery Assistance from the USDA

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has multiple agencies that provide financial and/or technical assistance to help farmers, ranchers and rural landowners recover from natural disasters, such as wildfires. Listed on this webpage are USDA agencies and an overview of applicable programs.

Funding for some programs are contingent on the annual enactment of Congressional appropriations legislation.

Highlighted programs:

  • Livestock Forage Disaster Program: Compensates producers who suffer pasture or forage loss due to drought or who have federally managed grazing leases but are not allowed to graze the lease because of wildfire. Report losses within 30 days.

  • Emergency Farm Loans: Offer financial support to farmers and ranchers impacted by natural disasters such as drought, flooding, storms, wildfires, earthquakes, and other declared disasters. These loans can be used to restore or replace essential property, cover production costs, pay essential family living expenses, and refinance certain debts.

FACNM Leader Spotlight - Staci Matlock

Staci Matlock serves as the Public Information Specialist at the New Mexico Forest and Watershed Restoration Institute (NMFWRI), based at New Mexico Highlands University in Las Vegas, NM. For over two years, she has been an active leader in our FACNM Network. Through her professional work related to areas such as forest thinning, erosion control, and defensible space, Staci has made significant contributions to the exchange of knowledge and best practices within the Network.

Below, Staci shares some of her experiences and key takeaways from building fire-adapted communities and being part of the FACNM Network.


Q: Describe a life experience that helped shape your dedication and/or passion for your current work in building fire adapted communities. 

A: The first home burned in the Hermit’s Peak fire belonged to a friend and colleague. By the time the Hermit’s Peak joined with Calf Canyon and swept across the landscape, it had burned the homes of four of my fellow volunteer firefighters with the Sapello-Rociada-San Ignacio fire district. While I spent decades covering fire, forests and public lands as a reporter, this devastating fire was the most up close and personal. It was followed a year later by Las Tusas fire, which came within ¼ mile of my mom’s house. Both drove home the need to prepare forests and communities for frequent and larger fires.

Q: When you think about your work in wildfire preparedness, what is your vision for your community? 

A: In my role with NMFWRI, I understand the need for returning beneficial fire to our historically fire-adapted forests. Seeing the devastation from catastrophic wildfires firsthand drives my desire to help communities adapt to living with fire and help restore beneficial fire to the landscape.

Q: What are one or two projects, partnerships, or efforts you’re especially proud of? 

A: NMFWRI has many excellent partners at the local and state level. New ones developed and strengthened during the HPCC fire, such as those with landowners and the local soil and water conservation district along with the Wildfire Resiliency Training Center at Luna CC. The land restoration and structural ignition workshops coordinated by my colleague Shantini Ramakrishnan and the “Querencia in Action” landowner guides we are publishing are helping promote pre- and post-fire work in communities.

Q: What challenges or barriers have you faced in your work, and how have you worked through them?

A: It can be challenging to promote fire mitigation and beneficial fire in an area that has already been impacted by a major wildfire and to people who either don’t have the resources to do mitigation work or are second home and absentee owners who aren’t vested in doing the work.

Q: What advice would you give to someone stepping into a similar role or just beginning this work? 

A: Find a small, like minded group to start with and build from there. And definitely involve local volunteer fire departments in events, trainings, and outreach for fire-adaption/mitigation.

Upcoming Events and Additional Resources

FACNM Webinar

Firewise & Fire Adapted Communities (FAC): Nesting Programs to Advance Wildfire Work -Thursday, August 21, 12:00 - 1:00 PM MDT

Join FACNM for an insightful webinar featuring the Director of the National Fire Adapted Communities Network and the Program Manager of Firewise USA®. Together, they will introduce the FAC framework and provide an overview of the Firewise USA® program. Learn how these two initiatives complement each other in helping communities build wildfire resilience. The session will also include valuable resources both FAC and Firewise offer to support your community’s wildfire preparedness efforts.

 

Emily Troisi, Fire Adapted Communities Director

Megan Fitzgerald-McGowan, Firewise USA Program Manager

 
 

The Community Foundation of Southern NM is raising funds to help residents impacted by wildfire and post-fire effects in Lincoln and Otero. This fund will provide financial resources to support the immediate and long-term recovery needs for the people, animals, and places effected by the devastating fires and floods in Ruidoso and across Southern New Mexico.

 

BLM Fire History & Fuels Reduction Projects

Ever wonder what the cause of a particular fire on BLM-managed public lands was officially determined to be? Curious about what BLM fuels reduction projects have been done in your area, or what projects are planned? Are you interested in seeing real examples of fuels work lessening the impact of subsequent wildfires?

Good news: there’s a brand-new app for that! This public-facing interactive web application offers three different maps and information sets. It brings publicly available data together into a user-friendly format that is a terrific tool both for the pros and for the public.

Check out this new tool and share it with your networks!

 

Webinar

Breathing Easier: Protecting Children With Asthma From Wildfire Smoke - Wednesday, Augst 13, 11:00 - 12:30 AM MDT

This webinar will explore the intersection of wildfire smoke exposure and childhood asthma. Expert speakers, from EPA’s National Environmental Leadership Award in Asthma Management winners and wildfire smoke grant program recipients, will share best practices, community-engagement strategies, and innovative approaches to integrating wildfire smoke readiness into asthma control efforts.

Wildfire Wednesdays #163: Wildfire Adaptation Across the State

Welcome to another Wildfire Wednesday, FACNM readers.

Figuring out how to be ready for fire can feel pretty daunting. Whether it is your 1st, 10th, or 100th step toward personal and community wildfire preparedness, there are many ways to get involved. From education and learning about fire science, to fuels reduction and home hardening, to incorporating the newest technology to reduce to risk of catastrophic fire, today’s Wildfire Wednesday discusses recent wildfire adaptation efforts and successes across the state.

Today’s Wildfire Wednesday features:

Be well and stay cool,
Rachel

FACNM Microgrant Successes

In spring of 2023, FACNM began offering seed funding to FACNM Leaders and Members through its Microgrant Program. Individuals or Organizations can apply for up to $2,000 to buoy their community fire preparedness efforts - convening educational gatherings, enabling on-the-ground risk mitigation work, developing grant proposals to secure long-term funding, and more. Since then, the Learning Network has opened up applications for grant assistance twice annually, providing Network members with technical assistance and over $30,000 in wildfire preparedness support.

The latest round of microgrants helped five community leaders host neighborhood chipper days and coordinate community education events. Read all about their successes, and the impact of this Network support, below.

Hazardous fuels removal: defensible space thinning and slash chipping in Timberlake Ranch

The remote community of Timberlake Ranch, tucked away in the south Zuni Mountains, is built at the interface between steep mesas, rocky pinyon-juniper shrubland, and decadent ponderosa pine. While it is a prime location for fire risk reduction and fuels mitigation, it can be challenging and expensive to secure contractors to do this type of work because of the distance from any major metropolitan area. The Landowners Association community has hosted chipper days in the past, and this year landowner and FACNM Leader Mike Rebb took the initiative to organize one such event - with the caveat that he would rent the equipment and do the work himself. He and a team of volunteers worked for months in advance to get the word out, work with landowners to do defensible space thinning around their homes and move the slash to the edges of their properties, and select 12 landowners on a first-come first-served basis for participation.

 

One community member who partook in the chipper day wrote in appreciation that “fire mitigation is a top priority for us on our properties in Timberlake. Under leadership of [FACNM Leader] Mike Rebb and his team, they spent 45 minutes on our property and chipped approximately 10-12 piles of slash that were treetops, trimmings, and small trees taking up space, becoming possible fuel to a forest fire. His team completely chipped all piles and we spread the chips to mitigate any possibility of forest fire in the future… thank you for your support of a healthy forest and fire prevention through mitigation.”

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Community education and hazardous fuels removal: neighborhood meetings, forest thinning, slash hauling, and chipping in Tesuque Valley

The Tesuque Community FireWise project, coordinated by FACNM Leader and FireWise Coordinator Rachel White, has been organizing education and fire risk reduction days for the community for several years. This one built on prior successes with an April community meeting at Tesuque Elementary School followed by an early-May free community chipper day.

The community meeting featured eight presenters and was designed to allow attendees to learn more about Tesuque’s community wildfire risk, preventative measures that can be taken, insurance options, and other fire-related issues. Approximately forty community members were in attendance, asking questions of the panel, receiving informational handouts, and learning about the upcoming opportunity to participate in the community chipper day.

The chipper day was held in the Tesuque Fire Department’s parking lot and was staffed by FireWise volunteers and contractor Chris’ Tree Service. Over a 4-hour period, 28 residents brought 46 loads of slash from their yards to be chipped, nearly doubling the 2024 participation. A volunteer also picked up debris from several households that were unable to transport their loads to the event. Participants expressed their appreciation for the opportunity to have their woody debris easily processed and requested that the event be repeated next year.   

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Community education and outreach: Wildfire Preparedness Day in Angel Fire

The newly established Colfax County NM Firewise Communities (CCFC), led by FACNM Leader Kim Wright, hosted a Wildfire Preparedness Day outside of the Lowe’s Market in Angel Fire with educational materials, resources for kids, and fire preparedness-related raffle giveaways on May 3. The event was supported by the Colfax County Volunteer Fire Department, Angel Fire Fire Department (AFFD), US Forest Service, NM Forestry Division, Cimarron Watershed Alliance, Angel Fire Pizza Stop, and Forest Stewards Guild.

During the day, attendees asked questions and took wildfire mitigation material. Some attendees spoke with Fire Chief Craig Sime about the Colfax Collaborative Wildland Urban Interface (CCWUI) Project and its impact reducing wildfire risk for the community. They also spoke with AFFD Ambassador Coordinator Lindsey Reed about Angel Fire’s Defensible Space Ordinance and the free professional home hazard assessments available to area residents. Firefighters and Engines were there along with Smokey Bear. A representative from Lakeview Pines, located west of Eagle Nest Lake, was inspired and said their community would like to organize a Firewise group. The Wildfire Community Preparedness Day was determined to be a success!

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Community education and engagement: Wildfire Preparedness Day in Santa Fe

Villages of Santa Fe, the Greater Santa Fe Fireshed Coalition, Fire Adapted NM, Santa Fe Fire, Forestry Division, and the US Forest Service teamed up to host the third annual Ready! Set! Go! workshop for Santa Fe area residents on May 3 in celebration of Wildfire Preparedness Day. These events were started with the intent of providing engaging educational opportunities for residents and visitors to learn about fire safety, prevention, and adaptation. This year, the event grew to include a panel of experts talking about fire insurance in New Mexico, among other interesting presentations. Organizations also set up tables with handouts and relevant information and attendees were able to visualize fire spread under different conditions using a Fire SimTable. The workshop was hosted at the Santa Fe Public Library and the Teen Center and supported by volunteers with drinks provided by Coca Cola.

As organizer Ann Church put it, “this year's event was a blast, and our community engagement just keeps leveling up. Every year, we fine-tune, we innovate, and we make an even bigger impact. Can’t wait to see what we cook up next!”

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Neighborhood preparedness: annual fire safety meeting in Los Cerros Colorados

On March 2nd, 45 neighbors in the Los Cerros Colorados HOA gathered at the home of a local resident for the community’s annual fire safety meeting. As coordinator and FACNM Member Rod Gould put it, "this was a good turnout given we were up against the Academy Awards.” The meeting featured speakers from the Greater Santa Fe Fireshed Coalition and City of Santa Fe Fire Department discussing wildfire risk, what drives this risk, fire prevention and safety actions available to community members, defensible space and evacuation, and the free professional home hazard assessments offered by the Forest Stewards Guild as part of a Community Wildfire Defense Grant (CWDG) for the Greater Santa Fe Fireshed.

The audience was highly receptive to all the information provided and stuck around to discuss it even after the meeting adjourned. Residents had the opportunity to sign up for home hazard assessments during the meeting and were informed of an upcoming opportunity to participate in a community slash disposal day, also supported the CWDG funds. The HOA lauded the success of both the community meeting and the disposal event and hope to continue both annually into the future.

New! AlertWest Fire Detection

When the Medio Fire first ignited in 2020, firefighting resources were having trouble identifying the location of the fire - something that could potentially delay their response time - because of the rough terrain obstructing their view into the Rio en Medio drainage. This experience, and others like it, highlighted the need for new and innovative tools to assist with wildfire detection.

Getting ready to install the camera on the towers already at the top of Tesuque Peak.

On Friday, July 18, a special 24/7 camera came online atop Tesuque Peak, making the southwestern corner of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains the first place in New Mexico to adopt new wildfire and smoke detection technology. The project was catalyzed by Jonathan Frenzen and Sandy Hurlocker of the Greater Santa Fe Fireshed Coalition’s communications committee and is being initially funded and supported by the Santa Fe Community Foundation, Santa Fe/Pojoaque SWCD, Forest Stewards Guild, and Jonathan Frenzen.

The control panel for the camera is seen on the back of a pickup truck at Tesuque Peak, ready to be installed.

“The pan-tilt-zoom camera from AlertWest, which [has a proven record of management services and wildfire detection and] manages a network of such cameras, has powerful magnification and can see in infrared. It will be scanning the area for plumes of smoke. It can see 25 miles in the daylight and 50 miles at night. Its live feed will be transmitted to a monitoring center in California, where artificial intelligence will detect signs of wildfire, and human technicians will verify the risk and alert emergency response.” (Santa Fe New Mexican - June 6 full article) These types of cameras are widely used elsewhere in the West and have been shown to be effective and successful.

The camera has a Command and Control function which will give key wildland fire management partners (Santa Fe National Forest, NM Forestry Division, City of Santa Fe Fire, Santa Fe County Fire, and Pueblo of Tesuque) the ability to pan the camera’s view around 360° and zoom in up to 40x magnification, making them better able to locate potential wildfire starts. It provides another tool for wildfire management, fire resources support, and community protection. It also adds another layer of protection for the critically important Santa Fe Watershed by providing wildfire detection capabilities in the upper watershed, an area not easily visible from town. The camera will provide fire surveillance for other important areas such as the Rio en Medio and Tesuque drainages and the Pecos wilderness. And the icing on the cake? The public can view this tool on AlertWest.

The public view of the camera, Tesuque Peak 1, on the AlertWest website.

Jonathan Frenzen's experience in academia and business was key to bringing in this technology as he advocated for improved wildfire detection capabilities and public access to information. Climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our times, driving increased fire behavior and frequency and the threats that come with that. As we face this challenge, we need to use the tools available to us. As Jonathan says, “this is a tool that can help us manage both the health of our forests and protect the safety of our communities.”

Wildfire Wednesdays #162: Resources for Communities and Recovery

With the recent rain, communities in the Sacramento Mountains that have been impacted by fires are now experiencing catastrophic flooding and tragic loss of life. Ruidoso Recovers, a resource from the Village of Ruidoso, helps residents stay informed during Ruidoso’s summer storm season. Check real-time road conditions, low-water crossings, and safety tips to help you stay safe. The Community Foundation of Southern New Mexico is also providing financial and logistical assistance to support the immediate and long-term needs of those impacted in Lincoln and Otero Counties; to learn more or donate, visit the Greatest Needs Impact Fund for Lincoln & Otero.

**This newsletter has been edited since first publicatoin to include resources for impacted communities**

Hello FAC readers,

Post-fire flooding, debris flows, and change in the type of vegetation on the landscape (also called ecotype conversion) are all well-known consequences of large fires - and challenges that persist for years. In the Southwest, we continue to learn how best to respond to these changes and threats to homes and people (see the NM After Wildfire or WA After the Fire guides for more details and resources). Today we will be focusing on resources for communities and recovery in the post-fire landscape.

This Wildfire Wednesday features:

Stay safe as the fire season ramps up,
Rachel

Assistance and Tools for Those Impacted by Flooding

Ruidoso Recovers

This website from the Village of Ruidoso provides vital resources and the latest updates as Ruidoso recovers from the South Fork and Salt fires and floods, including recovery resources such as recovery support, economic relief, and ongoing assistance and support.

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Stay informed - evacuation prep, insurance, and health and safety

Checklists: Flood Preparation and Supplies and Post-Fire Flooding Guide (excerpted from afterfirenm.org’s Floods Following Wildfire information guide)

Flood preparedness, insurance and safety information from the New Mexico Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (NMDHSEM)

Flood recovery, health and safety, and FEMA resources from the American Institute of Architects (AIA) https://www.aia.org/

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Post-wildfire response resources from the NM Environment Department

 
 

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What should people who live near a burn scar do to protect themselves from potential flash flooding and debris flows?

  • Know if you’re in a danger zone. A good rule of thumb is: "If you can look uphill from where you are and see a burnt-out area, you are at risk."

  • Have an evacuation/escape route planned that is least likely to be impacted by Flash Flooding or Debris Flows.

  • Have an Emergency Supply Kit (a “Go Kit”) ready and available.

  • Stay away from storm channels and arroyos (ditches are deadly, especially after a wildfire).

  • Keep a battery-powered radio to listen for emergency updates, reports of weather and flash flooding, and news reports.

  • Stay informed before and during any potential flooding event; know where to obtain National Weather Service (NWS) Outlooks, Watches and Warnings via the NWS Seattle website, FEMA App, American Red Cross Emergency Alert App, and via Facebook or Twitter.

  • Be alert if any storms develop over or near the burn scar. Do not wait for a warning to evacuate should heavy rain develop.

  • Call 911 if you are caught in a Flash Flood or Debris Flow.

  • Contact local officials for additional risk information and potential mitigation efforts.

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Help for those impacted - emergency relief funds

Several community foundations and emergency response funds are accepting donations and providing assistance to those impacted by the post-fire flooding from the Salt and South Fork Fires. Visit their websites to learn more and to donate.

Additional Resources

Tools and resources for students and educators

Learning about fire starts in childhood. As we grow, we come to understand that fire is dynamic, complex, and connected to many parts of our world including land management, climate, ecology, and communities. This new webpage from FACNM provides a collection of resources to help kids and students to understand science, history, and how human actions affect the environment - all through the lens of fire - as well as what actions can be taken to help protect the community from catastrophic wildfire. View the resource page for easy-to-use lessons, activities, and other helpful tools to guide learning in the classroom and beyond for teachers and students of all ages.

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Job opportunity - Forest Stewards Youth Corps

The Forest Stewards Guild is hiring crew leads and crew members in Mountainair, Pueblo of Jemez, and Santa Fe, New Mexico! The Fall Forest Stewards Youth Corps (FSYC) program creates employment, education, and training opportunities for recent high school and college graduates (18-25). These crews are hosted and mentored by U.S. Forest Service ranger districts and Jemez Natural Resource Department.

FSYC prepares participants for careers in natural resource management by providing them with training and certifications in:

  • National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) Basic Wildland Fire Fighting (S-130/190)

  • Wildland fire chainsaw use (S-212)

  • CPR and first-aid

  • Defensive driving

  • Forestry

  • Natural resource management projects including trail building, wildlife habitat projects, range improvements, and others.

  • Leadership development

  • Job skills such as resume and cover letter writing.

Learn more and apply at www.foreststewardsguild.org/fsyc-fallfirefuels/

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Forest health issues impacting the Southwest

Driving around New Mexico this spring and early summer, you may have noticed a lot of yellow-looking trees and recently green needles on the ground, especially among the Douglas fir. Tussock moth, a common defoliator, has been active this year and, along with other pests and diseases, can make live trees look dead. To learn more about insect defoliation, revisit this briefing paper from the Greater Santa Fe Fireshed Coalition.

 
 

The Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resources Department - Forestry Division also publishes an annual report on the state of forest health in New Mexico. Read past reports and view the forest health dashboard, learn about signs and symptoms of invasive insects, contact the state entomologist, and keep any eye out for the 2025 report here: www.emnrd.nm.gov/sfd/forest-health/

 
 

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Upcoming webinars

Wednesday, August 27, 2025 at 12pm MT: Stop, Drop, and Roll Out the Biocrust Sods: Targeting the Grass-Fire Cycle Through Soil-Surface Rehabilitation

Biocrust sods (portable islands of lichens, mosses, cyanobacteria, and other organisms that form the cohesive soil communities known as biological soil crusts) are a novel technique for restoring critical soil systems in degraded landscapes. Because biocrusts can suppress the emergence of exotic plants, biocrust sods may also serve as living, ecologically beneficial fuel breaks in regions where the grass-fire cycle is driving more frequent fires. This presentation from the Southwest Fire Science Consortium will offer preliminary results from studies in the Sonoran and Mojave deserts, where researchers have been testing the capabilities of these new restoration tools.

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Fire workforce survey

Help shape fire workforce research in this changing time!

 The Ecosystem Workforce Program and FireGeneration Collaborative is researching and convening people around fire resilience workforces (e.g. wildfire response, land stewardship, community resilience).  In light of changes from the ground up to the federal level, the Institute for Resilient Organizations, Communities, and Environments is asking workers, program leads, advocates, and scholars to share what questions and issues matter most to you right now.

Your responses will help guide the Institute’s work! While they will not be able to address everything, they will share an anonymous report of what they learn from this survey to all respondents, as well as an opt-in for project updates. 

Please take 3-5 minutes to fill out this quick survey: bit.ly/FireWorkforceNeeds 
For any questions or concerns, contact Annabelle Law from the research team at alaw@uoregon.edu. 

Wildfire Wednesdays #161: Clean air during smoke or pollution events

Happy Wednesday FACNM Community!

June 9-15 marked Smoke Ready Week for folks in Washington and Oregon; this annual awareness campaign, while based in the Pacific Northwest, is applicable to everyone residing in smoke-vulnerable places, including the Southwest. Smoke is a known health hazard and our air can become unhealthy to breathe because of smoke from wildfires close by or thousands of miles away. Smoke especially affects sensitive groups such as people under the age of 18 and over the age of 65, pregnant women, and people who are predisposed to respiratory ailments. In contrast to prescribed fires, which usually only burn vegetation, the composition of wildfire smoke can include particulate matter from burned homes, vehicles and hazardous materials. This week we are focusing on air quality, smoke impacts, and how we can make our families and our communities better prepared and safer during times of poor or hazardous air.

Supporting Smoke Ready Communities is one of the Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network’s (FAC Net) national goals for 2025. In the coming month, FAC Net will release a new "Smoke Ready Communities" graphic, modeled after the well-known FAC Wheel, to help illustrate key strategies and actions. Stay tuned!

This Wildfire Wednesday features:

Hope you all are well!
- Megan

Smoke Ready Resources

ArcGIS Fire and Smoke Viewer

This map, provided by Tahoe Resource Conservation District, includes current smoke, current air quality, satellite detected fires from MODI and VIIRS satellites, and fire locations (as a point, updated as soon as possible).

How to Clean Your Air

Research and resources on air filtration options

The Washington State Department of Health offers a robust webpage on wildfire smoke education and actions. They recommend three options for improving air quality in the home:

  1. If you have a heating, ventilation, and/or air conditioning (HVAC) system, use a filter rated for particle removal. This will reduce fine particles from wildfire smoke throughout your home.

  2. HEPA portable air cleaners can improve indoor air quality by removing particles from smoke in a single room or designated space. HEPA air cleaners that include carbon filters can also remove some harmful gases from indoor air.

  3. Making your own box fan filter (also called a DIY box fan filter) can be a less costly option to filter air and improve indoor air quality in a single room or designated space.

Air filtration systems, such as home HEPA Filters and Electrostatic Filters for HVAC, can drastically improve indoor air quality during times of poor environmental air conditions. These simple technologies are especially important for at-risk groups who may experience more severe symptoms and consequences from breathing polluted air; however, commercial options can be cost-prohibitive and out of reach, especially in rural areas. DIY (Do-It-Yourself, or homemade) air filters may be a more readily available and cheaper option for homes and schools.

In 2023, the National Collaborating Centre for Environmental Health published a meta-analysis on the efficacy, cost, and operation of DIY air cleaners. Their review showed that DIY air cleaners performed similarly to commercial portable air cleaners in terms of clean air delivery rate (CADR) and energy efficiency but were much more cost efficient that commercially available air cleaners. However, they also found that CADR can vary substantially depending on material quality and how well the DIY filters are constructed.

The group reviewed publications that tested the effectiveness of five models of DIY filter that all used box fans and sheet filters:

A) One filter and one fan (1×1 design); B) Two filters and one fan (2×1 or “wedge” design); C) Three filters and two fans (3×2 design); D) Four filters and one fan (4×1 or Corsi-Rosenthal box); E) Five filters and one fan (5×1 design) with supports to elevate the device; F) Bottom view of 5×1 design showing the fifth filter and improvised cardboard legs. Black arrows show the direction of airflow and all units feature a cardboard shroud taped to the front of the fan. Photo credit: Molly Mastel, BCCDC.

Although the metric of CADR varied between studies, the meta-analysis showed that DIY air filtration systems perform as well as, or better than, commercial systems across the board. The size of the space being filtered and tolerable speed of the fan (e.g. classrooms ran the fans on the lowest setting to reduce noise) both influence the efficacy of the filtration systems.

 

Excerpt of a table comparing DIY air cleaner designs and commercial units. Clean air delivery rate (CADR) and noise generation values were those measured at highest fan speed.

 

This research came with two important caveats:

  1. DIY air cleaners made with newer model fans are unlikely to pose a fire or burn risk, but should be kept clear of obstructions and operated with common sense precautions. The filters should be changed when soiled; duration of filter lifespan will vary with use and conditions.

  2. Portable air cleaners are only part of a comprehensive indoor air quality strategy. They do not replace the need for ventilation and should be used in conjunction with other appropriate health protective measures.

Finally, the study indicates that these three things can improve the effectiveness and safety of your DIY filter:

  • Seal the gaps. DIY air cleaner resources typically recommend sealing the gaps between fans and filters with a strong, wide tape such as masking tape or duct tape.

  • Use a cardboard fan “shroud.” A shroud on the fan’s outward face prevents the air expelled from the inner part of the fan from being re-entrained and pulled back in through the corners of the fan box where the blades do not reach.

  • Use a newer fan (2012 or newer) to minimize risk of burns and fire. 

How to be Prepared for Smoke Exposure

Smoke from a prescribed burn

The University of Nevada, Reno Extension’s Living With Fire Program has developed a fact sheet titled Living with Smoke: How to Be Prepared for Smoke Exposure. This resource explains what wildfire smoke contains, why it poses health risks, and offers practical guidance on how to protect yourself, especially when staying indoors isn’t an option.

If you cannot remain indoors during smoky conditions, the following tips will help reduce your exposure and health impacts:

  • Stay hydrated. Adequate hydration keeps your airway lubricated, which keeps you safer from health impacts related to smoke.

  • Use NIOSH N95 or P100 respirators if you must be outside. Cloth, surgical or dust masks will not protect against ozone or particulate matter

  • If possible, reduce strenuous activities, and take frequent breaks indoors to limit the amount of smoke inhaled.

  • To reduce the amount of smoke while driving in a vehicle, close windows and vents and use the air conditioner on “recirculate mode.

FACNM HEPA Filter Loan Program

With support from NMSU, FAC Net, and the Forest Stewards Guild, FACNM is able to offer a HEPA Filter Loan program. Filters are available to smoke sensitive individuals during periods of smoke impacts in the Santa Fe, Chama, and El Rito area. A small amount of portable air cleaners are available to filter the air in a large room such as a living room or bedroom. Filters will be distributed on a first come first served basis for predetermined time periods. You will need to provide contact info and come to office listed for your area to sign for the filter and pick it up.  Please look over the HEPA Air Filter Check-Out Contract.

Diagram of smoke particles entering and existing an hepa filter

For general information about the program contact Sam Berry at the Forest Stewards Guild at sam@forestguild.org.

Outreach for Public Health & Smoke Management

The Southern Group of State Foresters are compiling existing communication materials on public health related to smoke management, such as templates, handouts, graphics, videos and other resources, into one shared library. Their aim is to make it easier for prescribed fire practitioners, wildfire managers, and health professionals to deliver consistent and effective public health messaging and mitigation tools. If you have resources to contribute, please visit the form.

 
 

FACNM Leader Spotlight

Jan-Willem Jansens is the owner and principal of Ecotone Landscape Planning, LLC, based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, serving communities across northern New Mexico. As a FACNM Leader, Jan-Willem brings over 30 years of experience working in New Mexico, with a focus on landscape management planning, ecological restoration design, and land stewardship education.

Below highlights some of Jan-Willem’s experiences and takeaways since joining the FACNM Network.

Q: Describe a life experience that helped shape your dedication and/or passion for your current work in building fire adapted communities. 

A: My current work in building fire adapted communities stems from my deep interest in and passion for work that seeks to maintain a dynamic equilibrium between ecosystem health and people’s needs; in other words, in how to connect people with the landscape in a respectful, durable, and productive way. This is deeply important to me because I believe that working in this field contributes to the quality of life and eventual survival of communities and my own family in this region.

Intellectually, this interest is grounded in my understanding that natural, low- and mixed-intensity wildfire events are part of the essential ecological dynamics in Southwest ecosystems. Wildfire plays a critical role in the ecological succession and rejuvenation process of soil and plant communities. In that way, it maintains land health and the many ecosystem services that healthy ecosystems provide. Yet, the ecological functions of wildfire and its values for people are still poorly understood by large parts of the population (and its elected officials) in this country which leads to land uses and people’s expectations of the landscape, including fire behavior, that perpetuate ecosystems that are out of balance, do not have optimal ecological functioning conditions, and do not adequately provide nature’s benefits to people.

Witnessing ecosystem degradation during my lifetime, and particularly since the mega-drought in the Southwest that started in 1996, has shaped my curiosity and insights in the role of wildfire and how communities would need to adapt to wildfire. I apply a landscape-scale approach toward ecosystem restoration, which is beneficial in understanding the role of wildfire in ecosystems and how human communities ideally interact with fire dynamics.

Q: When you think about your work in wildfire preparedness, what is your vision for your community? 

“My community” comprises several communities: my neighborhood, the city and county where I live, northern New Mexico as my primary work area, and the professional community of people I work with. It is my vision for this mosaic of communities that they “come to unity”, in the literal meaning of “community”, on how to live with wildfire. I hold a vision that people in all these communities participate in a civic process of listening and learning about their environment and human actions, and as a result, make good decisions in anticipation of and in response to needed adjustments in our relationships with the landscape and each other. This would then lead to a process of social, economic, land use, and stewardship adjustments in our relation to the land that supports the dynamic equilibrium I mentioned above as the root understanding of my vision.

Q: What are one or two projects, partnerships, or efforts you’re especially proud of? 

A: I believe that it is useful to identify projects or collaborations that are illustrative or educational to bring forward for others to explore. Such initiatives would naturally be those that are collaborative, long-term, and landscape-scale in nature. For me, those include my work between 1998 and the present in developing landscape-wide collaboration for ecosystem conservation and restoration in the Galisteo Basin, including the recent completion of a CWPP for the greater Eldorado area; my work between 2009 and the present in developing landscape-wide community awareness, collaboration, and planning initiatives that led to many ecosystem restoration projects for forests, wetlands, and Piñon-Juniper ecosystems in the Lower Embudo Valley, including a forest plan for the Las Trampas area and a CWPP for the Dixon Fire District; and ongoing planning work of the last few years toward achieving a common understanding of needed land health improvements and how to implement them in the post-fire landscape of the Southeast Jemez Plateau area, together with local pueblos and many other partners. At a smaller scale, my contribution of a research study and conceptual plan for forest management – aimed at snow and water retention – in the Cimarron Range as part of a watershed conservation plan for the Cimarron watershed between 2019 and 2021 illustrates how holistic, focused, and creative research in forest planning can generate far reaching results. This plan led – in part – to the completion of a CWPP for Colfax County, the award of a FAWRA grant for private land forest restoration in the area, a congressional appropriation for forest restoration on the Philmont Scout Ranch, and several large CWDG grants for large scale forest restoration in the Cimarron Range and the Moreno Valley.

Q: What challenges or barriers have you faced in your work, and how have you worked through them? 

A: The challenges and barriers I encountered have been many. The basic recipe for working through them includes being patient, persistent, curious, creative, showing an understanding of people associated with the challenges, and keeping an eye on the larger end goal. Most challenges are either procedural (including limited resources commensurate to the task or process) or behavioral (communication and teamwork). Good communication, a positive, constructive attitude, and management skills, including team role management, are essential to persevere.

Q:  How has being a part of the FACNM Network supported or shaped your work? 

A: Being part of the FACNM community provides a network of peers with a broad background in experiences and a community of people with similar goals and aspirations. This has been important for me for learning purposes and for working with the knowledge that “we were all in it together” and feeling far from alone in this work despite of its enormous scale and scope.

Q: What advice would you give to someone stepping into a similar role or just beginning this work? 

A: People interested in becoming involved with building fire adapted communities might benefit from approaching their involvement with patience, curiosity, humility, and a listening and learning attitude rather than bringing a specific action agenda. Much of the work of building fire adapted communities is that of collaborative learning. They may benefit from the wisdom embodied in the “4-Returns Framework” of Commonland, which highlights community-driven planning steps, such as seeking a common understanding, pursuing outcomes such as inspirational returns (hope, collaboration, cultural and artistic improvements), ecosystem returns, social returns, and financial returns, working at a landscape scale, and approaching one’s commitment with the notion that it takes a generation (25+ years) to make meaningful changes. People engaging in fire adapted communities might benefit from exploring how to build productive connections among people and between people and the land.

Upcoming Events

Flyer for the event

Hosted by the New Mexico Section of the Society for Range Management, this FREE event will take place in Santa Rosa, NM. Designed for ranchers and landowners, the event will focus on prescribed burning as a land management tool. The agenda for August 16 includes creating a prescribed burn plan, prescribed burning principles, prepping the land for a prescribed burn, and conducting a “100% hands on” prescribed burn.

For more information, contact Jim Armendariz at 432-803-2411 or register here.

 

CWPP Webinar Series

Session 3: Post-Fire Recovery Chapters in CWPPs

Are you thinking about integrating post-fire recovery planning with your CWPP? Join the discussion for tips and resources! The format of this virtual learning opportunity will be a mix of presentation and participatory discussion in break out rooms --- come ready to discuss your own local plans, questions and experiences with your peers! 

The webinar is being hosted by FAC Net, featuring The Ember Alliance and Sophia Fox from Washington Resource Conservation and Development Council.


Wildfire Wednesday #160: Home Hardening and Fire-Resistant Structure Construction

Happy Wednesday, and happy Summer Solstice, FAC readers!

How do some homes and structures survive even when they are in the direct path of a wildfire? Most of us know that defensible space - an area around the home where vegetation, including trees, shrubs, and grass, is thinned or removed to reduce fire behavior and intensity as it approaches the house - can make a difference. However, many of the homes that survive fire events share another feature: fire resistant construction and design. Today we will be talking about building materials, architecture, how we can improve the fire resilience of our existing housing stock, and how to build better with fire in mind during new construction.

This Wildfire Wednesday features:

Getting Started: Basic Recommendations for Non- and Less-Combustible Building Materials

Overview of recommended actions to reduce your structure’s fire risk from FEMA

“Homeowners, business owners, design professionals and builders in wildfire-prone regions can benefit from understanding general fire resistance characteristics of common construction materials and building products. Fire-resistant materials can withstand higher exposure and help slow the spread of fire, but it is important to remember that fire-resistant does not mean fire-proof. Fire resistance depends on a variety of factors including intensity and duration of fire exposure, type of building material, age of the material, detailing at joints and interfaces, methods of construction, and how each element and assembly are used in combination to create a fire-resistant exterior.” (FEMA Maui Recovery Advisory, 2025)

FEMA has released several Mitigation Assessment reports following investigation of destructive wildfires and urban conflagrations with recommendations for what actions home and business owners can take to improve their structure’s chances of surviving a fire. The following recommendations are from reports out of Maui, Hawai’i and Boulder County, Colorado.

Structural components

When components and assemblies of homes such as walls, roofs, windows, doors, and siding systems are connected they leave exposed surfaces, form joints or spaces at the connection points. These joints and spaces help accommodate building movements and construction tolerances. They also are places where vegetative debris (e.g., leaves, needles, grass clippings, twigs, branches, etc.) tends to accumulate. While current building codes do require fire-resistant construction, homes constructed following older codes may have exterior walls that are susceptible to fire depending on the construction and/or materials used to construct them. Single-family homes typically do not have exterior walls that are built to resist wildfire, which means they have the potential to allow surfaces to be exposed to embers, flames, and hot gases or enter the home through the exterior envelope.

The biggest areas for improvement in the structural components of a house include roofing material, structural wall materials (e.g. using adobe brick, concrete, or masonry as an alternative to timber framing in new construction, or adding fire resistant siding/cladding to existing housing),

Windows and doors

Wind-blown embers can accumulate in gaps in a home’s siding, pass through openings around windows and doors, or accumulate on wooden window and door frames. Glass in a window or door can break from radiant heat or flame contact, exposing the interior of the home.

Wildfire resistant siding and installation design features, tempered and dual pane glass in windows, wildfire resistant doors, metal clad frames, and weather-stripping can reduce home vulnerability. The relative importance of each of these items varies depending on home-to-home spacing and location of vegetation on the property.

Exterior components

Vents in roofs, walls, and crawl spaces provide the air circulation needed to minimize moisture buildup that can lead to significant damages over time. These vents, if not sealed, provide a pathway for embers to enter the house, resulting in possible ignition inside the structure.

Current research indicates that decks, porches, balconies, and exterior stairs are often constructed of non-fire-resistant materials which embers can ignite. Vegetative debris can accumulate on or under these structures. These structures can ignite when directly exposed to embers or direct flaming. Because they are often adjacent or attached to the vulnerable components (e.g., glass doors and windows) of the house, once they ignite, fire can spread to the house itself.

Fences constructed from combustible materials and having joints or spaces between components (such as post-and-board fences) can allow embers to collect in the joints and gaps. Flames can travel horizontally along combustible fences when ignited, acting as a “wick.” When the fence is attached to the home, these flames can then ignite the house itself. Fences within the first five feet of the house pose the greatest risk of flames igniting combustible siding or embers and flames igniting the under-eave area and the roof edge.

Less combustible vegetation in the 5-foot zone

We know that wildland vegetation such as grass, brush, and timber can be extremely combustible, burning with great intensity and producing firebrands and burning embers that can become wind-driven hazards. Did you know that landscape vegetation can be as combustible as wildland vegetation? Combustible plants have these characteristics:

  • Volatile resins and oils (generally aromatic when crushed)

  • Narrow leaves or long, thin needles such as conifer needles

  • Waxy or fuzzy leaves

  • An accumulation of dead leaves and twigs on and under the plant

  • Loose or papery bark

A wildfire can move horizontally from shrub to shrub and tree to tree or can travel vertically from the ground up into the treetops, resulting in a catastrophic crown fire (a fire that can travel at an incredible pace through the top of a forest).

Desirable substitutions for flammable vegetation close to the home include irrigated grass, rock gardens, stone patios, or less flammable vegetation. Keep in mind that flammability fluctuates with the season - there are no “fireproof” plants, there are only less flammable plants. The following resources have some recommendations for fire resistant landscaping:

The webinar recording from FACNM, below, discusses options for fire smart landscaping in New Mexico. Jump to timestamp 29:15 to learn more about consideration of fire in plant and landscape design.

Fire Resistant Homes: Education Opportunity

The National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA) offers a free self-paced course to anyone interested in understanding how wildfires spread to buildings and the steps they can take to prevent ignition and destruction. Participants can select each element of a building—roof, windows, siding, vents—to get a complete view of how fire can affect it, and what changes can be made to make the whole structure much safer. As each section is completed, the program will add it to a personalized property improvement plan, which can be downloaded later or printed for personal use.

The course also comes with a free mobile app, NFPA Wildfire Risk Simulator. This is a great starting place for individuals who may not have access to a fire management professional offering a personalized home hazard assessment, or for those who simply want to learn more.

The Cost of Ignition and Fire Resistance

Decades of construction on wildfire-prone lands that have largely disregarded wildfire-resistant building techniques have left communities vulnerable. It is essential to build better and to retrofit the existing housing stock in wildfire-prone areas to an upgraded wildfire resistant construction standard to reduce overall community wildfire risk. But how much does it cost to build or retrofit a home to be fire resistant?

Headwater Economics has been studying this question for the past decade and has released two excellent reports that detail the costs and benefits of building for fire resistance. While retrofits may be more expensive than building with fire safe materials from the ground-up, the benefits of improving a home’s fire resistance rating are only growing as more homeowners across the West experience the loss of, or increase in rates for, homeowner’s and business insurance due to fire risk.

Example of a construction options decision tree from Retrofitting a Home for Wildfire Resistance, page 17.

The reports from IBHS examine costs in four vulnerable components of the home: the roof (including gutters, vents, and eaves), exterior walls (including windows and doors), decks, and near-home landscaping. Overall, the wildfire-resistant construction costs 2% less than the typical construction, with the greatest cost savings resulting from using wildfire-resistant fiber cement siding on exterior walls, in lieu of typical cedar plank siding.

In addition to considering the cost of this type of construction, the reports (‘Retrofitting’ in particular) also offer detailed construction options, cost breakdowns, diagrams, and decision trees for specific home zones and fire vulnerable areas.

This study examines the cost differences between a typical home and a home constructed using wildfire resistant materials and design features.

 

This report identifies the costs for retrofitting existing structures to meet CA construction requirements and the best available science for ignition-resistant construction.

Analysis demonstrates that some of the most effective strategies to reduce structure vulnerability to wildfire can be done affordably. For homeowners concerned about the cost of retrofitting their homes, selective, targeted replacement of particular components may reduce risk effectively and more affordably. Homes must be built to be stronger, smarter, and more durable in light of the increasing pace and scale of wildfire risks, and these individual actions must be paired with funding and technical support from state and federal governments in order to be successful.

Additional Resources

New! Grant Opportunity and Funding Database

This new resource from FACNM is intended to assist folks across the state who are searching for grant funding opportunities. It can guide your funding search and is built using the best publicly available information. Please verify all details, including deadlines, eligibility requirements, and application procedures directly with the funding agency before applying.

The Forest Stewards Guild would like to acknowledge the generous support of the Watershed Research and Training Center and the Bureau of Land Management – New Mexico, whose contributions helped make this tool a reality.

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Upcoming events

Climate Resilience for Post-Wildfire Restoration Resources
August 5-6, 2025, Route 66 Casino & Hotel (Albuquerque, NM)
The South-Central Climate Adaptation Science Center (SC CASC) is hosting a workshop on wildfire education strategies, collaborative post-fire restoration and recovery, and post-fire plans and programs. Open to all, this event will center Indigenous perspectives, local knowledge, and scientific collaboration to promote safer, more resilient communities in the face of increasing wildfire risk. To register, visit: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScw_lW2junpyIfH4J7Gm-V5gkRamwzfpHGer8KfvO9iIEMViw/viewform

 

New Mexico Wildland Urban Fire Summit (WUFS)
September 30-October 2, 2025, Valencia Co. NM
This annual event, open to the public, features presentations, panels, and interactive sessions on the topic of fire in our communities and the wildland urban interface. This year’s theme is Wildfire Futures: Building Community Connections and Empowerment and will feature discussions on defensible space and home hardening standards, insurance, community wildfire risk ratings, and much more. Save the date and keep an eye out for registration and additional information, coming soon!

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Wildfire legislation tracker

The Alliance for Wildfire Resilience (AWR) released a brand new Bill and Recommendations Explorer that can be used to track wildfire-related legislation, the status of recommendations of the Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission, and how Congress is progressing toward solutions. You can search for information by recommendation or bill, and further sort by topic, status, relevant department, and other features. Embedded within the bill tracker, you’ll find a map of wildfire risk for relevant congressional districts. This information will help users track, explore, and evaluate wildfire-related bills in Congress.

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In the News

On June 26 from 1pm to 2pm, KRWG public media station will be hosting several wildfire experts (including our own Megan Rangel-Lynch) to discuss fire adapted communities, insurance in New Mexico, actions on recent wildfire-related legislation, and more. The program may be livestreamed on Facebook Live or accessed on the following radio stations:

 
 

Wildfire Wednesday #159: Tools and Resources for Sharing and Tracking Wildfire Information

Happy Wednesday FACNM Community! 

Effective communication is one of the most critical elements of wildfire preparedness. Whether you're a resident, a community leader, or part of an emergency response team, the ability to share and access accurate and timely information can help save lives and minimize damage. Today, digital platforms play a vital role in how we prepare for and respond to wildfires. Social media has emerged as a powerful way to quickly reach large audiences, provide real-time updates, and engage communities before, during, and after fire events. Similarly, interactive maps offer a user-friendly visual way to track wildfire activity, air quality, and evacuation zones, helping people stay informed as conditions evolve. Today's newsletter highlights trusted resources and best practices for communicating during wildfire events, along with a curated list of essential apps and websites that provide up-to-the-minute wildfire information, air quality monitoring, and fire restrictions tailored specifically for New Mexico. Whether you're preparing in advance or responding in the moment, these tools will help you stay informed and ready to act. 

This Wildfire Wednesday, I’m proud to also introduce a new element: the FACNM Member and Leader Spotlight, beginning with one of the Network’s dedicated leaders. Each month, this newsletter will highlight an active FACNM Member or Leader, showcasing their efforts to build fire-adapted communities, the insights and advice they’ve gained along the way, and their vision for learning to live more safely with fire.  

This Wildfire Wednesday features: 

-Megan 

Wildfire Communication Resources & Best Practices

New Mexico Fire Viewer

NMFWRI’s GIS Team has developed the New Mexico Fire Viewer, an interactive web map that provides access to real-time and historical wildfire data. The web map integrates satellite imagery and GIS layers, allowing users to search for active wildfires by name and view perimeter boundaries and hot spots. These updates, sourced from satellite infrared images, refresh every few hours. Originally launched to track the Hermit’s Peak and Calf Canyon Fires near Las Vegas, NM, the Fire Viewer now includes wildfire data statewide, covering current, recent, and historical fires. View the NM Fire Viewer at https://nmfireviewer.org/. 

The Fire Viewer includes multiple GIS layers to enhance situational awareness: 

  • Smoke forecasts 

  • Land ownership data 

  • Soil burn severity maps 

  • Burn scars from past fires 

  • Building footprints (houses, barns, and other structures, sourced from Microsoft) 

  • Vegetation treatment data from NMFWRI 

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NM Fire Info Southwest Area Fire Restrictions Map 

NMFireInfo.com is an interagency effort in New Mexico, created to provide timely and accurate information about wildfires and fire restrictions across the state.

One of the key features of the site is an interactive map that helps residents, landowners, and visitors quickly identify current fire restrictions in effect throughout the Southwest region. By clicking on a specific area of interest, you can access direct links to the latest fire restriction orders, closures, and/or official news releases for that location. While the map is a valuable resource, it may not always capture the most recent updates for every jurisdiction. For the most accurate and up-to-date fire restriction information, it’s always a good idea to check with your local fire department, government agency, or (if you're traveling to visit public lands) the relevant local land management office. 

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AirNow Fire and Smoke Map 

The AirNow Fire and Smoke Map is a tool for monitoring fine particle pollution (PM2.5) from wildfires. It does not track all airborne toxins or pollutants. This tool focuses on PM2.5, tiny particles in smoke that can travel deep into the lungs, enter the bloodstream, and pose serious immediate and long-term health risks - even to people far from a fire’s origin.  Exposure to PM2.5 is especially dangerous for individuals with asthma, heart or lung conditions, children, older adults, and those who work outdoors. The map uses the Air Quality Index (AQI), a simple, color-coded scale ranging from "Good" to "Hazardous", to help users quickly assess how safe the air is to breathe. 

Available in both English and Spanish, the interactive map allows you to click on icons to view detailed, location-specific information. This includes the current AQI, historical air quality trends, and the presence of any nearby fires or visible smoke plumes. For each AQI category, the map also highlights the groups most at risk and offers practical recommendations to reduce smoke exposure, such as staying indoors, using air purifiers, or wearing N95 masks. Understanding AQI empowers communities to make safer, healthier choices during wildfire events. 

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Watch Duty 

Watch Duty is a free app available for both iPhone and Android that provides real-time alerts about nearby wildfires, prescribed fire activities, and suppression efforts. The app offers detailed information, including active and historical fire perimeters, red flag warnings, satellite hotspots, and more. Unlike crowdsourced platforms, Watch Duty is powered by a trusted network of active and retired firefighters, dispatchers, and first responders. These experts monitor radio scanners and collaborate 24/7 to deliver up-to-the-minute updates.  

If a wildfire threatens life or property, Watch Duty sends immediate alerts directly to your device. Each incident is continuously monitored, and updated alerts are sent until the threat is removed or the fire is fully contained.  

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Living With Fire Social Media Toolkit 

The Living With Fire Social Media Toolkit is a ready-to-use resource designed to help users share important wildfire preparedness information across your social media platforms. It includes a range of prepared messages that you can post as-is or customize to fit your audience’s needs. Topics include evacuation planning, creating defensible space, home hardening, living with smoke, prescribed fire, post-fire recovery, and preparing for post-fire flooding. The toolkit also features downloadable graphics to complement each key message. All materials, including graphics and messages, are available in both English and Spanish to help you reach diverse communities effectively. 

An example of one of their pre-drafted messages:

“Strong winds can move wildfire smoke from an area on fire to communities otherwise unaffected, greatly reducing air quality and extending the health risks of wildfire. Learn more about smoke and how it travels at  www.iqair.com”

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NWCG Community Engagement Recommendations 

In February of this year, the updated NWCG Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) Mitigation Field Guide was released, offering practical guidance for mitigation practitioners of all experience levels. The guide provides strategies and recommendations for effectively and efficiently reducing wildfire risk in communities vulnerable to wildfire damage or destruction. 

A key feature of this guide is a dedicated section on community engagement and partnerships. Building meaningful connections with residents is essential to driving successful community-wide risk reduction efforts. The guide emphasizes that communication strategies can vary. Some are proactive and interactive, while others are more passive or informational. Understanding when and how to use each approach is critical to success. The guide offers actionable advice on: 

  • Facilitating community meetings 

  • Creating effective messaging 

  • Conducting media interviews 

  • Leveraging social media platforms 

  • Tailoring communication to specific audiences 

Additionally, it includes a set of talking points for discussing wildfire and mitigating wildfire risk. These can be adapted to reflect your community’s unique demographics, forest conditions, and available resources, helping to make mitigation conversations more relevant and impactful. 

An example of talking points from “Fire as Part of the Landscape”

FACNM Leader Spotlight 

Photo of FACNM Leader Gina Bonner as seen in the Taos News

Regina “Gina” Bonner is the Firewise Committee Chair for Taos Pines Ranch POA, which is in an unincorporated region of SW Colfax County near the Village of Angel Fire. Gina has been a FACNM Leader since the beginning of 2023 and has made numerous significant contributions to building wildfire resiliency within her community. Below highlights some of Gina’s experiences and takeaways since joining the FACNM Network: 

Q: Describe a life experience that helped shape your dedication and/or passion for your current work in building fire adapted communities. 

A: I’ve always enjoyed the outdoors and natural resources. I’ve hiked and backpacked all over the state, and have catalogued rocks, fossils, birds, trees and wildflowers in Taos Pines Ranch. I will say, though, that the 341,471-acre Hermits Peak / Calf Canyon wildfire south of us definitely motivated me to get more involved in regional wildfire protection over and above Taos Pines Ranch Firewise. 

Q: When you think about your work in wildfire preparedness, what is your vision for your community? 

A: Reducing the wildfire risk rating for not only Taos Pines Ranch but also surrounding communities through fuels reduction and defensible space projects. This is important because fires do not recognize county or community boundaries. All of The Enchanted Circle has a high wildfire risk rating and should be considered as a whole for landscape treatments, forest health and watershed protection. 

Q: What are one or two projects, partnerships, or efforts you’re especially proud of? 

A: Partnering with the Cimarron Watershed Alliance (CWA) to write USDA Community Wildfire Defense Grants (CWDG) for SW Colfax County. This was done first as Taos Pines Firewise and later as a CWA board member. Affected communities in the awarded fuels reduction contracts thus far are The Flying Horse Ranch, the unincorporated areas of Moreno Valley and Ute Park, and Angel Fire. 

Since CWDG is predicated on having a current Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP), I value partnering with the Forest Stewards Guild to get priority projects and action plans into the Colfax County CWPP. 

Q: What challenges or barriers have you faced in your work, and how have you worked through them? 

A: Many property owners in Taos Pines are part-time and don’t have a good appreciation of the wildfire dangers because of the precipitation and humidity levels in their other environment. The idea of cutting down any tree, much less for defensible space, was of great concern because they wanted to live in a forest up here and not in the city. The resistance was slowly overcome over time through annual education, having annual chipper days, illustrating fire patterns overlain over Taos Pines lot lines with homes using fire SimTable exercises; plus the preponderance of wildfires near us. We are heading into our third thinning initiative and, once complete, 85% of the 1,200 Taos Pines lots will have been thinned at least once, and some twice. 

Q:  How has being a part of the FACNM Network supported or shaped your work? 

A: FACNM supports Firewise by offering microgrants that can be applied to chipper day and education events. It’s always nice to meet and exchange ideas and lessons learned from other leaders across the network. FACNM website offers a wealth of resources and research on emerging topics like Insurance Institute for Home & Business Safety (IBHS) standards for wildfire prepared homes that are coming to New Mexico. 

Q: What advice would you give to someone stepping into a similar role or just beginning this work? 

A: Take advantage of the FACNM resources for meetings, workshops and materials. Reach out to them or other peers to explore grant opportunities and to get helpful tools. There is a lot to learn but a lot of resources to help because “you don’t know what you don’t know”. 

Resources and Opportunities

Classes and Workshops

IFTDSS Course for Prescribed Fire Plans - online course, Enroll Now

Learn to use IFTDSS, available anytime on the Wildland Fire Learning Portal, for Burn Plans:

  • Use spatial modeling and include visuals in your plan

  • Element 4: Describe your Burn Unit with IFTDSS reports and fuel model data from LANDFIRE 

  • Element 7: Build your prescription by using IFTDSS Compare Weather/Fire Behavior

  • Element 16: Find your critical holding points by running Landscape Fire Behavior

  • Element 17: Game out spot fires and escape scenarios with Minimum Travel Time (MTT) for your Continengency Plan.

 

Community Wildfire Protection Plans 2.0 Webinar Series - presented FAC Net and the Watershed Research and Training Center

Session 2: Integrating Smoke Preparedness into CWPPs
Wednesday, June 18 - 11AM to 12:30PM (MT)

Are you planning for smoke preparedness and mitigation in your community and looking to embed that work into your Community Wildfire Protection Plan? Join our discussion and talk with experts about tips and resources for integrating smoke considerations into your CWPPs

 

Fire-forward media

Weathered: Inside the LA Firestorm (T.V. Episode)

"Weathered" is a PBS series hosted by Maiya May that focuses on natural disasters and extreme weather events. The series explores the impacts of climate change and how communities can prepare for and respond to these challenges. In this episode, the host investigates what caused the 2025 LA Wildfires and how we can prevent future disasters.

Wildfire Wednesday #158: Benefits and Planning of Forest Restoration Treatments

Hello FAC Community,

It has been shown that, in the fire-adapted Southwest, forest restoration and fuel reduction treatments are the primary and most effective means of reestablishing beneficial fire regimes and protecting communities and ecosystems from devastating wildfire. However, these treatments need to happen at large scale, in the right places, and for the right price. Today’s newsletter explores two aspects of this challenge - how cost-effective forest and fuels treatments really are, and how planning and implementing them can be most efficacious when done collaboratively.

This Wildfire Wednesday features:

Best wishes,
Rachel

Forest Treatments Meta-analysis

In August 2024, Northern Arizona University's Ecological Restoration Institute conducted and published a meta-analysis of the cost benefits of fuel treatments including thinning and prescribed burns. This analysis evaluates and compiles the findings of the many studies which have been published on this topic in the past.

Forest restoration and fuel treatments, including thinning and prescribed burning, have become the primary approaches for reducing the abundance of overly dense stands and reestablishing natural fire regimes. Although there is a strong body of biophysical science supporting these approaches, little is known about their cost effectiveness. To evaluate forest restoration and fuel treatment benefits and costs, a team of researchers at the ERI and the Conservation Economics Institute conducted a meta-analysis of benefit-cost ratios for restoration benefit types documented in the literature for western US dry mixed-conifer forests at risk of uncharacteristic wildfires.  

The analysis is the first quantitative synthesis of the return on investments in forest restoration for the American West. A total of 120 observations were collated from 16 studies conducted over the last two decades. While researchers identified 17 different types of individual restoration benefits in the literature, including enhanced initial ecosystem services and avoided wildfire costs (AWC), many more benefits exist that have yet to be quantified. 

Key findings and recommendations:

  1. For every dollar invested in forest restoration in high risk, high-value forested watersheds where all quantified benefits are present, over seven dollars of benefit may be returned to investors. 

  2. Applying a financial type of return-on-investment to forest restoration, where only returns in excess (or below) of the initial investment are calculated, indicates the potential for a 600% return on investments in the most valuable at-risk forested watersheds. 

  3. Many other unique restoration benefits exist that have not been economically quantified and were not included in the meta-analysis, which indicates that the total returns on investments in forest restoration are likely greater than presented in this study.

  4. This approach may also be used to develop an economic measure for the value of a restored acre, which includes improved ecological conditions and wildfire resilience.

Collaboratives & Treatment Prioritization

The early 2000s signaled the start of an increase in cross-jurisdictional and cross-organizational cooperation, collaboration, and partnership through programs like the New Mexico CFRP, federal CFLRP, and integration of nonprofit flexibility into agency objectives. The 2020 New Mexico Forest Action Plan builds off this collaborative foundation by clearly stating the need for collective action to guide and meet the forest and watershed health and restoration goals laid out for 2020-2030. The strategy specifies that the work of the NM Forestry Division’s collaborative partners is closely integrated and important to achieving success. There are many forms that partnerships can take, but one of the most impactful is Landscape Collaboratives, like the Zuni Mountains Collaborative or the 2-3-2 Partnership, that bring together many individuals and organizations over a large geographic area to identify and work toward shared land management goals across multiple specialties and land ownerships.

The New Mexico Forest Action Plan (FAP) identifies multiple strategies to address the challenges facing our State’s forests, water, wildlife, and communities, but the first (Restore Forests and Watersheds) addresses what is arguably the most expensive issue facing forest management today— the legacy of fire exclusion and current land conditions. “In the absence of naturally occurring wildfires, forests have generated excessive fuels which has, in the past two decades, resulted in catastrophic wildfires burning much hotter than previously experienced. These ‘mega-fires’ are happening every year around the West and threaten water supply, lives and property. Experience has demonstrated that forest management treatments such as thinning, burning, and especially a combination of thinning and burning, can moderate fire behavior.” The strategy outlines a plan and identifies collaborative opportunities for addressing these fuel conditions and restoring forest stand densities to healthier conditions at large scale and across ownership boundaries to maximize ecosystem services and resilience to climate change and other identified threats.

Some of the strategies within the FAP that integrate collaboration:

  • Conduct appropriate treatments in collaboratively identified large-scale priority areas;

  • Conduct collaborative planning and build collective capacity to increase the pace and scale of forest and watershed restoration;

  • Develop collaborative strategies to promote a dynamic patchwork mosaic of riparian and wetland vegetation and habitat;

  • Support and expand public outreach and education to foster a society that supports watershed restoration activities and values resilient and healthy forest ecosystems.

If we want to increase the “pace and scale” of forest and watershed restoration in the state, we need to streamline the flow of putting money on the ground and add administrative capacity. We also need to ensure that all of our priorities match - state and federal agencies have put a lot of time, thought, and effort into planning like the strategies mentioned above, and there is a lot of room for alignment across collaborators. Mechanisms to make those partnerships official, like Good Neighbor Agreements, provide local entities a seat at the table when it comes to planning and implementing projects that improve ecological resilience, promote rural economic development, and improve community health and safety. Collaboratively written documents like Community Wildfire Protection Plans (CWPPs) can meld and incorporate the priorities of communities and natural resource professionals into one document that clearly outlines actional next steps.

Once a project area is identified, all members of the collaborative can decide what “tools” from the “toolbox” are best suited to get work done on the ground to improve resources while accomplishing other priority goals. The collaborative can also agree on which funding source(s) are easiest for accomplishing that work.

Key takeaways:

  • Good planning means aligning federal, state, local, and hyperlocal priorities.

  • With solid plans in place, collaborative groups can move beyond relationship building and into detailed project development and implementation.

  • Streamlining the flow of funding and adding local government capacity may prove to be the key to achieving “pace and scale” at the landscape level.

To dive into a local example of collaborative partnership at work, view this presentation from Taos County and read about the work they have accomplished since then.

Additional Resources

Locations of 2024 Good Neighbor Firefighter Safety Program funds. To apply for 2025 funding, visit https://www.nvfc.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/2025-SF-Application-Guidance.pdf

State Farm® and the National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) are proud to team up for the Good Neighbor Firefighter Safety Program to help resource-constrained volunteer fire departments secure needed equipment. The program launched in 2024, and due to overwhelming demand State Farm doubled its initial commitment – awarding $1 million in grants to 100 departments. View the 2024 grant infographic.

In 2025, the commitment grows even further. State Farm will award a total of $1.5 million to 150 volunteer fire departments. Each will receive a $10,000 grant to help them secure essential equipment that will improve firefighter safety, effectiveness, and efficiency and enable them to better serve their communities.

The funder is holding office hours on Thursday, May 15 | 12:00 – 12:30 p.m. ET and Thursday, May 29 | 7:00 – 7:30 p.m. ET to answer questions and share additional information. Applications open on June 4 and close on June 6. To learn more and register, visit www.nvfc.org/good-neighbor-firefighter-safety-program/

In-person learning

Post-Fire Lessons Learned Panel Discussion: May 29, 5:30pm (Session 3 of the Enchanted Circle Wildfire Preparedness Series)
UNM Taos Bataan Hall, 121 Civic Plaza Dr., Taos, NM 87571

This series of panel discussions from UNM Taos, Taos County, Kit Carson Electric Coopertive, and Enchanted Circle Association of Realtors is dedicated to wildfire prevention and preparedness in the region. It is designed to equip community members with essential resources and information to enhance preparedness for potential wildfires, continuing on May 29 with a presentation about post-fire lessons learned. Previous topics in the series have included how to protect your home from wildfire and state of the forest.

Webinars

RMRS webinars on Behave7 software: May 20th (best for fire analysts) and May 22nd (best for prescribed fire planners) at 11:00am

These webinars are a two part series of trainings for the Behave Fire Modeling System. These webinars will go over changes in version 7 from the RMRS Fire, Fuel, and Smoke Science Program, as well as a look forward at future releases. Registration is required and the webinars will contain duplicate information since they are aimed at different users. To learn more and to register, visit www.swfireconsortium.org/2025/05/06/the-behave7-fire-modeling-system-is-here/

2025 Tribal Climate Resilience Webinar Series: June 3, July 1, and August 5 at 12:00pm

Throughout 2025, the Southwest Climate Adaptation Science Center is hosting a series of webinars on climate adaptation and resilience for tribal environmental and natural resources professionals. The Center has already hosted webinars in February - May, with three more in the series coming up in June-August. Upcoming topics include creating climate adaptation plans, climate resilience funding, and tribal climate resilience success stories. To learn more, visit www.swcasc.arizona.edu/events/sw-casc-tribal-climate-resilience-webinar-series. To revisit the earlier webinars in this series, visit www.swcasc.arizona.edu/tribes/2025-tribal-climate-resilience-webinar-series

Wildfire Wednesdays #157: Urban Conflagrations

Happy Friday, FAC Community!

You have seen the term “urban conflagration” in past FACNM newsletters, but what does it mean in the context of your personal wildfire risk? We’re seeing more and more examples of fires that start in an undeveloped natural area but quickly move toward and into urban areas, transitioning from consuming trees and vegetation to consuming homes, businesses, and other structures (click the links for lessons from the Marshall Wildfire - 2021, Lahaina Fire - 2023, Salt/South Fork Complex - 2024, Palisades and Eaton Fires - 2025). Today we’ll dive into how fires make this jump, their damage and cost statistics, who is at risk, and what you can do to lower your risk rating (including information on recently passed legislation that will help move the needle on risk mitigation and resources for New Mexicans).

This Fire Friday features:

Be well and have a happy national wildfire preparedness day this weekend!
-Rachel

Planning for and Learning from Urban Conflagrations

Defining the problem: what are ‘urban conflagrations"‘?

“With the Oakland Hills Tunnel Fire of 1991, built environment conflagrations returned to United States cities. Wildfire, which had been viewed as a wildland and rural community problem, now was a catalyst for conflagration. Over the next three decades, the most catastrophic wildfires were often those where fire entered communities of the Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) and spread into suburban neighborhoods as a conflagration of the built environment ensued. Structural conflagration is defined as fire encompassing all of a given structure. Here we will focus on the concept of a built environment conflagration resulting from wildfires, where fire spreads uncontrollably from structure-to-structure” (IBHS, 2023).

Image from Headwaters Economics report; data sourced from Wildfire Risk to Communities and analyzed by Headwaters Economics. This analysis shows that more than 1,100 communities in 32 states across the United States share similarities with communities recently devastated by urban wildfires.

In the wake of the Los Angeles wildfires, Headwaters Economics published “America’s Urban Wildfire Crisis: More Than 1,100 Communities at Risk,” using data from the Forest Service’s Wildfire Risk to Communities project. From the report: “the fires in Los Angeles follow a pattern starting to become familiar. As was seen in Hawaii’s Lahaina Fire, Colorado’s Marshall Fire, and Oregon’s Almeda Fire, wind-driven embers from nearby wildfires ignite homes, which spread fire rapidly to neighboring homes, becoming an urban conflagration. Also known as urban wildfires, these large, difficult-to-control fires may start as wildfires but, upon entering communities, buildings become the source of fuel. It is the building-to-building transmission that causes widespread destruction that can occur in communities of any size.”

Headwaters Economics has created an interactive map that shows communities with risk factors that put them in a similar hazard category as the neighborhoods that burned in LA.

Urban conflagration risk factors:

  • High likelihood of wildfire on adjacent lands

  • Many homes exposed (dense construction)

  • Extreme winds

  • Lack of ignition-resistant construction materials

  • Local risk factors, such as

    • predominant winds or local wind conditions,

    • ignition sources and locations,

    • fuel moisture,

    • firefighting resources,

    • housing arrangement, and

    • building design and construction

It is important to remember that urban conflagrations are characterized by fire moving from structure to structure in a densely built environment, but it’s not just cities that are at risk. Recent fires, like the Hermit’s Peak-Calf Canyon Complex, show that many homes can burn in rural communities as well, especially when some of the same risk factors, such as extreme winds and a high likelihood of fire on adjacent lands, are present.

What is the cost?

Wildfires that become urban conflagrations are becoming more frequent and damaging, with some of the most destructive occurring in the past decade. A separate analysis found that, over the past several decades, wildfire risk and its associated costs and impacts on communities has been increasing across the United States. Between 2018 and 2021, wildfires in the U.S. were associated with over $79.8 billion in costs, and fire years (and expenses) have only inflated since then with the return of the urban conflagration. According to data from the First Street Foundation, 50% of all addresses in the lower 48 states face some degree of wildfire risk; in some rural states, more than 90% of properties face some risk. In 2022 when the data was released, more than 686,000 properties at risk of wildfire faced at least a 1% chance of burning that year. This means that over a 30 year mortgage period, those homes have a 26% chance of burning. (New York Times, 2022).

Source: First Street Foundation
The future projection reflects a warming scenario in which countries take measures to curb emissions over the next 30 years roughly in line with pledges under the Paris climate agreement. The future risk map reflects changes in temperature, precipitation and other climatic factors, but the model relies on historical weather, development patterns and other inputs.

To learn more about wildfire risk to homes and tools that can help encourage fire preparedness actions at the individual and community level, read Wildfire Wednesday #152 on Community Ordinances and Codes for Fire Protection.

What can be done to reduce urban conflagrations?

“Many well-researched actions can help reduce community wildfire risk, but they require a shift in local, state and federal approaches to wildfire management. Beyond fire suppression and vegetation management, construction of wildfire-resistant homes, neighborhoods, and communities must also be prioritized.

“A focus on the built environment helps address the fundamental causes of disasters... Urban conflagrations often begin with windblown embers flying ahead of a wildfire front, igniting spot fires that expose homes to flames and heat. The speed at which a spot fire becomes an urban conflagration can be influenced by construction materials, landscaping, and the proximity of homes to each other. Building and retrofitting homes and neighborhoods to minimize places where embers can ignite is not only necessary, research has shown it can be practical and cost-effective. Reducing wildfire risk communitywide can also help keep insurance markets accessible and potentially avoid billions in disaster recovery costs that often fall on taxpayers” (Headwaters Economics, 2025).

Resources

  • The US Fire Administration Wildfire Evacuation page has guidance for encouraging community members to plan, prepare and practice before a wildfire occurs. There are also tips for community-level actions, such as shareable evacuation planning toolkits, working to create healthy landscapes and defensible space, and consulting with local foresters.

  • The US Forest Service’s Wildfire Risk to Communities tool allows users to explore their local wildfire risk and take steps to reduce that risk with free resources. These resources are organized into categories such as ignition-resistant homes, land use planning, evacuation and readiness, vulnerable populations, and many more.

  • Simple techniques for home hardening, such as removing wooden fences within 5 feet of the home and replacing them with inflammable materials, in addition to creating defensible space, continue to be the best defense for individuals. Learn more about home hardening and improving your properties defensibility against wildfire in Wildfire Prepared Homes.

A WUI success story: Austin, TX

In 2020, Austin, Texas became a national leader when it comes to reducing the wildfire risk to homes and buildings in the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI). In this ten-minute video produced by Headwaters Economics, leaders from Austin describe how they came to realize the magnitude of the wildfire threat, and how they brought together diverse interests to pass one of the most forward-looking WUI codes in the U.S.

Forestry and Wildfire in the 2025 Legislative Session

Several Senate and House bills related to forestry and fire preparedness passed (in part or in whole) and were signed into law during the 2025 New Mexico legislative session. This body of legislation will impact wildfire preparedness resources and expectations for home and landowners as it is implemented over the next few years. The New Mexico Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resources Department (EMNRD) - Forestry Division compiled a synopsis of the various bills and their biggest takeaways. Click on the image to view the synopsis in its entirety and read on for some highlights.


Senate Bill 33: Wildfire Prepared Act
Amends the New Mexico Fire Planning Task Force membership and duties to identify and map high-risk areas within the state, develop building code standards and defensible space requirements and ordinances to reduce wildfire threats, consider other fire suppression measures such as thinning, mitigation, prescribed burning, using wildfire-resistant, noncombustible or ignition resistant building materials to national standards for defensible space.

House Bill 553: Timber Grading Act
Allows for the creation of a structural timber grading certification program accessible to sawmill owners and their employees to provide training on structural timber grading and labeling by developing a state-specific system to grade and label structural timber.

Senate Joint Memorial 1:
Makes recommendations on 1. business opportunities, 2. reducing the cost of moving wood to mills for processing, 3. reviewing successful wood utilization programs out-of-state, 4. existing incentives for wood product industry expansion, and 5. efforts to ensure that healthy forests reduce wildfire risk to expedite forest restoration throughout economic development in New Mexico.

Senate Memorial 2:
Creates a wildfire study group to develop approaches to address and mitigate wildfire in NM. The study group will develop and make recommendations to the legislature on a statewide approach to address, avoid and mitigate wildfires including recommendations for necessary funding and proposed legislation.

House Bill 175: Amendment to the Forest and Watershed Restoration Act (FAWRA)
Prioritizes, maps, and allows for the creation of fire buffers in and around wildland urban interfaces. This will allow the Forestry Division to utilize FAWRA funding on private lands to implement or create fuel buffers around communities within the WUI, sets project eligibility requirements, and creates incentives to increase investments in watershed and community areas to manage forests and protect water sources.

Grants Tracking & Management Tips from FAC Net

Finding and sustaining funding for work across the FAC framework is a critical part of community wildfire resilience. The national FAC Network has launched a webpage that provides information and resources to help FAC practitioners identify, apply for, and manage funding for their work, with a particular focus on the specifics of federal funding sources. Visit www.fireadapted.org/funding-fac/ to view the grants database, learn about recurring funding opportunities for FAC work, and get tips and tricks for preparing for, applying to, and managing federal grants.

You can also learn about applying and reporting for federal grants by viewing the four-part archive of webinars hosted by FAC Net as part of their Community Navigator Project during the winter of 2024-2025. These trainings and resources can help communities better understand key requirements for successfully managing federal funding.

Additional Resources

Upcoming and recorded webinars

Fire Season 2024 Overview and 2025 Outlook - recording coming soon
On May 1, Dr. Zander Evans and Kerry Jones joined the Southwest Fire Science Consortium to review the facts and impacts of the 10 biggest fires in the Southwest in 2024 and to look ahead to the forecasted fire weather for 2025, with a focus on the spring - midsummer. Visit the Consortium’s ‘Products’ webpage to learn more and to view the recording (will be uploaded no later than 5/7)

Fire Smart Landscaping in New Mexico
In this webinar from FACNM, attendees will learn that reducing wildfire risk around the home doesn’t have to mean removing all vegetation cart blanche. With the right landscaping strategies, New Mexico residents can help protect their homes while still enjoying beautiful outdoor spaces. Speaker Angela Prada from New Mexico State University Cooperative Extension Service will explore:

  • Key traits of fire-resistant plants and recommended species for NM,

  • Strategic planting tips—like proper spacing and reducing density of flammable vegetation, and

  • Year-round maintenance practices to reduce wildfire risk

When: Thursday, May 22nd from 12:00-1:00pm
Where: Zoom, registration is required and the recording will be available following the webinar
Speaker: Angela Prada of NMSU Cooperative Extension Service

Funding opportunities

Last day to apply! FACNM Microgrant Program
Twice annually, FACNM accepts proposals for a small amount of seed funding (up to $2,000) to help Members and Leaders host events or educational opportunities to improve their community fire awareness and readiness. These proposals must demonstrate community benefit or FAC capacity building. The spring 2025 application period closes at midnight on May 2!

Ideal project proposals may include:

  • Wildfire preparedness events

    • Home hazard assessment day

    • Defensible space or home hardening community workday

    • Evacuation planning and education

    • Post-fire erosion mitigation preparation and information

    • SimTable hosting

  • Equipment rentals

  • Slash disposal

  • Proposal development/writing

  • Improving/expanding existing offering

Wildfire Wednesdays #156: Centering Renters in Wildfire Preparedness and Recovery

Happy Wednesday, FACNM community!

Historically, wildfire preparedness efforts have focused primarily on homeowners. Most publications and outreach materials emphasize defensible space and home hardening, both of which are critically important for increasing a home's resilience to wildfire. However, these strategies are often out of reach for renters, who may not have control over landscaping or structural changes to their residence. While existing resources may contain relevant information, very few are specifically tailored to the needs of renters. This has led to disaster researchers including renter status as an indicator of disaster vulnerability. Topics like evacuation planning, renters’ insurance, and post-fire recovery are all critical aspects of fire adaptation. Building wildfire resiliency occurs, before, during and after a fire, and you don’t have to own a home to engage in many meaningful steps toward resilience.

As of 2023, 30.7% of housing units in New Mexico were renter-occupied (U.S. Census Bureau). Additionally, according to the Pew Research Center, certain demographic groups—such as young adults and individuals with less formal education—are more likely to rent, and rental rates among these groups have increased nationwide over the past decade. To help promote wildfire preparedness for all New Mexicans, this week’s Wildfire Wednesday is focused on renters.

This Wildfire Wednesday features:

Hope you all are well!
Megan

Renter Experiences After Colorado's Marshall Fire (Dickinson et al.)

In their study, Renter Experiences After Colorado’s Marshall Fire, Dickinson and colleagues surveyed residents 11 to 15 months after the 2021 Marshall Fire, the most destructive wildfire in Colorado’s history. Their research underscores the unique and often overlooked challenges that renters face in disaster recovery. The report explores key themes including disaster impacts, displacement, rent increases, access to resources, and renters’ participation in post-fire recovery decision-making.

Key findings include:

  • Renters often depend on landlords to repair damaged properties post-disaster. This dependency contributes to a higher likelihood of displacement and delays in returning to affected communities compared to homeowners.

  • Significantly more renters reported that they experienced damage to their home and were no longer living at the residence they occupied at the time of the fire; conversely, more homeowners reported that they were still living at the same property but had experienced fire damage. Among renters who remained in the same unit after the fire, 63% reported that their landlords raised the rent.

    • A year after the fire, 62% of surveyed renters had moved from their pre-fire residences. Renters were also more likely to have been displaced outside of the County compared to homeowners.

  • Renters reported greater financial need and impact and had higher rates of being uninsured than homeowners.

  • Renters were significantly less likely to be engaged in recovery decision-making. They participated less in activities such as attending fire-related meetings, contacting local officials, or submitting public comments.

  • Compared to homeowners, renters were significantly less likely to agree that local government decisions had taken their opinions into account and that recovery processes were fair.

A figure of quotes and key themes to open-ended survey questions with the headers 1. lack of financial support, 2. Lack of Policy and Research Attention, 3. Rent Increases, and 4. Challenges of Recovery

Figure 11. Quotes and Key Themes from Renter Responses to Open-Ended Survey Questions

These findings are critical for policymakers aiming to design inclusive and equitable disaster recovery efforts. The paper recommends several interventions, including preventing post-disaster rent price gouging, codifying landlords’ responsibilities for remediation following environmental public health events, and offering clear guidance on tenants’ rights to terminate leases when their homes are damaged in a disaster.

To explore the full findings and recommendations, see the full report here: Renter Experiences After Colorado’s Marshall Fire

A Guide for Long-Term Renters from Tahoe Network of Fire Adapted Communities

The Tahoe Network of Fire Adapted Communities created a guide specifically designed for long-term renters in the Lake Tahoe region. Released in 2021, the guide was developed with direct input from local renters through resident focus groups across the Lake Tahoe area.

Based on this community feedback, the guide offers practical, renter-focused information, including:

  • Instructions for signing up for emergency alerts in the four counties surrounding Lake Tahoe,

  • A map of evacuation routes and exit points out of the basin,

  • A checklist of essentials for long-term renters, such as preparing an evacuation go-bag, obtaining renter’s insurance, and documenting personal belongings, and

  • A recommendation to review leases with landlords and create a shared plan for defensible space and landscaping maintenance.

Inner pages of the tri-fold guide that discuss red flag warnings, evacuation, being prepared for wildfire, and long-term renter essentials.

Inner pages of the trifold “A Guide for Lake Tahoe Long-Term Renters”

This guide helps ensure long-term renters are informed, prepared, and better equipped to respond to wildfire threats. It also serves as a strong example of how county officials and community leaders in places like New Mexico can prioritize engagement strategies and support renters in their own wildfire preparedness efforts.

Guidance from Los Angeles County for Renters in Fire-Affected Homes 

1 of 11 social media graphics titled After the recent LA county wildfires, many rental units experienced substantial damage.

1 of 11 social media graphics provided by LA County DCBA.

The Los Angeles County Department of Consumer and Business Affairs (DCBA) developed a set of clear, actionable steps for renters whose units were seriously damaged, but not destroyed, by wildfire following the LA Fires earlier this year. While landlords are responsible for ensuring the unit remains in livable condition, a tenant’s rights may vary depending on the severity of the damage, the location of the property, and the terms of their lease. These straightforward messages serve as a strong example for leaders in New Mexico and beyond, offering a model for effective, easy-to-understand communications that can be shared with renters in the aftermath of a wildfire.

DCBA’s guidance places particular emphasis on smoke-damaged properties. For renters dealing with issues such as ash, soot, or smoke damage, especially in HVAC systems, they recommend the following steps:

  1. Submit a written repair request to the landlord as soon as possible.

  2. Understand landlord responsibilities. The landlord is responsible for repairing damage to the structure (both interior and exterior) and any appliances that were included in the lease.

  3. Know what’s not covered. Landlords are not responsible for replacing personal belongings damaged by smoke or fire.

This type of concise, renter-focused communication helps ensure tenants know their rights and responsibilities during disaster recovery and can serve as a valuable template for local governments and organizations supporting renters in wildfire-prone regions. To see the full suite of graphics and steps outlined by DCBA, visit: https://recovery.lacounty.gov/renters/

Disaster Preparedness from NM Office of Superintendent of Insurance

The New Mexico Office of Superintendent of Insurance’s Disaster Preparation page features an interactive wildfire preparedness tool designed to support both landlords and tenants. This tool provides practical tips and resources to help prevent wildfires and prepare your family, property, and finances. It includes links to help renters determine if their area is considered high-risk and identify the primary hazards in their county. The tool also outlines actionable steps residents can take to reduce ignition risks and increase safety before wildfire strikes.

Resources and Upcoming Opportunities

Landowner Resources Guide

The New Mexico Forestry Division has released a comprehensive guide for forest landowners which offers a wide range of resources and available technical and financial assistance. The guide covers key programs such as forest stewardship, urban and community forestry, forestry and fuels grants, land conservation, and fire-related initiatives. It also clearly outlines which counties are served by each Forestry Division District Office and provides contact information to help landowners connect directly with District staff. Landowners are encouraged to reach out for personalized guidance or recommendations to help meet their land use and land care goals.

 

Weekly Natural Resources Career Newsletter

The New Mexico Forest and Watershed Research Institute (NMFWRI) and the Conservation Science Center have put together a weekly newsletter which is full of natural resource jobs, career tips, and more. To see opportunities included in past newsletters, visit online or sign up to receive the newsletter each week in your inbox by emailing shantinir@nmhu.edu.

 

LANDFIRE Office Hours

LANDFIRE is a shared program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service and U.S. Department of the Interior wildland fire management programs. It supports community and firefighter protection by identifying areas across the nation which are potentially susceptible to wildland fire. LANDFIRE assists with landscape assessments, analysis, and natural resource management and supports modeling of fire behavior and effects. LANDFIRE is hosting an upcoming series of office hours for existing or new users:

  • April 30: The Use of LANDFIRE Data in the Wildland Fire Decision Support System (WFDSS)

  • May 28: Characterizing Ecosystems at Different Spatial Scales with LANDFIRE Data

  • June 25: LANDFIRE's Vegetation Update

 

FACNM Microgrant Proposals Open Through May 2

Twice annually, FACNM accepts proposals for a small amount of seed funding (up to $2,000) to help FACNM Members and Leaders host events or educational opportunities to improve their community fire awareness and readiness. These proposals must demonstrate community benefit or FAC capacity building. The spring 2025 application period is open now through May 2!

Ideal project proposals may include:

  • Wildfire preparedness events

    • Home hazard assessment day

    • Defensible space or home hardening community workday

    • Evacuation planning and education

    • Post-fire erosion mitigation preparation and information

    • SimTable hosting

  • Equipment rentals

  • Slash disposal

  • Proposal development/writing

  • Improving/expanding existing offering

Wildfire Wednesdays #155: Local Efforts Supporting Wildfire Preparedness Day 2025

Happy Wednesday, FAC Community!

National Wildfire Preparedness Day, the brainchild of the NFPA Firewise program, takes place each year on the first Saturday of May. The significance and impact of this day comes from the fact that it provides an opportunity for collective action - community slash disposal volunteer days, working with your neighbors to clear gutters and remove leaves from under the deck, and more. By pairing education with encouragement for community members to work on addressing both their individual and neighborhood risk on the same day, Wildfire Preparedness Day helps to build motivation, momentum, and relationships between neighbors to continue the good work year-round.

For this year’s Preparedness Day campaign, NFPA is highlighting the value and impact that preparing the first five feet immediately around the perimeter of the home, known as the immediate zone, or “Zone Zero”, can have on reducing the risk of home ignition.

This Wildfire Wednesday features:

Have a safe and happy start to spring!
Rachel

Wildfire Preparedness Day 2025

In addition to NFPA’s list of ideas, FAC Net has a user-friendly fact sheet to help you Improve Fire Outcomes in Your Community: Meaningful Projects You Can Complete in as Little as 10 Minutes (and all the way up to a full day).

Resources and ideas to get started

NFPA and State Farm provide a toolkit for community members to easily get involved in Wildfire Preparedness Day in three steps:

  1. PICK A PROJECT
    Prep Day projects are focused on how to prevent your home from igniting when a wildfire happens.

    • Review the project suggestions and select one that fits your needs.

    • Make a list of the tools or supplies you will need for your project.

    • Ask family members or neighbors to set aside time to help.

  2. SPEAK UP AND STAY SAFE
    Communication is key to spreading the word and having a safe, smooth project.

    • Promote your event locally with flyers and announcements, and invite others in your community to participate.

    • Review the safety tips and gear suggestions with everyone who will participate.

  3. POST AND PARTICIPATE
    Spread the word beyond your community by making your project visible to the greater world!

    • Take before and after photos of your project site.

    • Share your project details on the NFPA Prep Day Map!

    • Most of all, find a way to participate on Wildfire Community Preparedness Day! Don’t forget to take photos and video for all to see!

Defending the Home Ignition Zone (HIZ)

Illustration of a fire burning, right to left, through a green forest of pine trees. Purple smoke covers the sky in the background.

Research shows there are proven methods for preparing properties for withstanding the devastating impacts of a wildfire. This Prep Day, you have the power to protect the part of the community that means the most to you and your family by eliminating vulnerabilities in the HIZ, particularly the immediate 5-foot zone around your residence. Whether it's replacing wood chips with gravel or reimagining your entire landscape design, what you do on Saturday, May 3, really matters. Learn More About the HIZ.

To learn more about how firefighters triage structures during a wildfire, check out the new fact sheet Is This Structure Defensible? Understanding Wildland Firefighters’ Perceptions of Structure Defensibility from the Colorado Forest Restoration Institute.

How Do Homes Burn in a Wildfire?

Contrary to popular belief, most homes do not burn down from direct contact with wildfire flames or radiant heat. In this episode of Learn Something New™, misconceptions about wildfires are too often perpetuated in media as massive walls of flame that scorch everything in their path.

 

Local Events

Porfirio Chavaria with Santa Fe Fire Department shows how the SimTable can illustrate how fire and fire and smoke travel with different weather conditions

Join Villages of Santa Fe and many other partners for a free day of educational workshops (10am-1pm) and family fun (12pm-3pm) for Wildfire Community Preparedness Day at the Southside Library.

  • When: Saturday, May 3, 2025 from10:00 AM 3:00 PM

  • Where: Santa Fe Public Library - Southside Branch (6599 Jaguar Drive, Santa Fe, NM; map)

Educational sessions will include a panel on homeowner’s insurance in addition to workshops about emergency preparation, simulated wildfire spread in the Santa Fe area, and wildfire risk reduction techniques for homeowners. Family activities will include Smokey Bear, fire trucks, and other children’s activities. This workshop is free and open to the public, with ample free parking available at the Southside Library. Download the flyer to learn more.

Colfax County Wildfire Community Preparedness Day (Angel Fire)

Join the Colfax County NM Firewise Communities to learn how to improve fire safety and readiness for your family and home.

  • When: Saturday, May 3, 2025 from 8:00 AM to 2:00 PM

  • Where: Lowe’s Market, 3373 Mountain View Blvd, Angel Fire, NM (map)

A red firetruck parked in front of blue cloud covered mountains on a rainy day

This community event will provide attendees an opportunity to learn about Firewise USA, individual actions to take to create defensible space and harden homes against fire, how to get involved and start networking with FACNM, and much more. There will be fire personnel from Angel Fire and Moreno Valley Volunteer Fire Departments as well as representatives from the NM Forestry Division, Forest Stewards Guild, and Cimarron Watershed Alliance present to answer questions.

Stop by to meet Smokey Bear, see fire trucks, get free Smokey Bear and Firewise USA materials, and enter a raffle for a chance to win free door prizes!

Earth Day Celebration: Seed to Tree, Mountain to River (Las Vegas)

An interactive, hands-on Earth Day celebration at the NMHU Industrial Arts parking lot and building (indoors and outdoors).

  • When: Saturday, April 25, 2025 from 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM

  • Where: Highlands University Industrial Arts Building, 917 11th St, Las Vegas, NM (map)

Come enjoy a day of hands-on activities celebrating our forests, watersheds, and how they are connected. Tour the Reforestation Center seed cone processing lab! See how thinning forests affects fire behavior! Try your hand at reading tree rings! Join a nature treasure hunt! Learn ways to reduce fire risks around your home! And much more! Plus, enjoy free snacks and buy a grilled burger to support the NMHU Forestry Club! To learn more or to sign up as a presenter or supporting organization, email Christina Muniz at christina@nmhu.edu.

Upcoming Opportunities

FACNM Microgrant funding

Twice annually, FACNM accepts proposals for a small amount of seed funding (up to $2,000) to help Members and Leaders host events or educational opportunities to improve their community fire awareness and readiness. These proposals must demonstrate community benefit or FAC capacity building. The spring 2025 application period is open now through May 2!

Screenshot of a webpage announcing the F A C N M microgrant funding. Black text on a cream background and an embedded photo of cut tree branches on the ground in a clearing with live trees in the background.

Ideal project proposals may include:

  • Wildfire preparedness events

    • Home hazard assessment day

    • Defensible space or home hardening community workday

    • Evacuation planning and education

    • Post-fire erosion mitigation preparation and information

    • SimTable hosting

  • Equipment rentals

  • Slash disposal

  • Proposal development/writing

  • Improving/expanding existing offering

Other funding opportunities

The Network for Landscape Conservation has announced a request for proposals to its Catalyst Fund. The Fund makes strategic investments in strengthening the collaborative capacity of place-based, community-grounded landscape partnerships. The Fund seeks Partnerships at pivotal points in their development where modest investments in collaborative capacity can shift the trajectory of conservation and stewardship outcomes over time in the landscape. Specifically, the Catalyst Fund prioritizes the transition from collective vision to collective action. This year there is also support available to undertake climate-informed conservation planning. Proposals are due by May 16.

 

Webinars

Fire in the Southwest: Fire season 2024 overview and 2025 outlook
Thursday, May 1, 2025 at 1:00pm MT

A large plume of dark grey smoke rising over a dark green forest of pinyon and juniper trees with small dots of orange flame seen between the trees

To track the causes, consequences, and patterns of fire in the Southwest, the Southwest Fire Science Consortium and Forest Stewards Guild compile an annual report on the 10 largest fires of the previous fire season. Please join report authors and meteorologists for a webinar reviewing the top 10 fires of 2024 and looking ahead to the fire forecast for 2025. The presenters will provide historical context for these 2024 fire data, including trends and outliers in the timing, management costs, vegetation, and burn severity, and discuss the fire season outlook and summer weather forecast for the Southwest in 2025.

Wildfire Wednesdays #154: Welcoming a New Network Coordinator

Happy Wednesday, FAC Community!

My name is Megan Rangel-Lynch and I’m excited to introduce myself as the new FACNM Learning Network Coordinator and a new contributor to the Wildfire Wednesdays newsletter series. As I step into this role, I’m eager to deepen my understanding of the Network’s work and vision, connect with many of you who are leading fire readiness efforts across the state, and share what I know while learning from your experiences. I look forward to working together to continue building a culture of fire adaptation. 

In my previous role as Program Assistant Manager for Community Resilience with the Arizona Wildfire Initiative (AZWI), I was continually inspired by the many ways leadership manifests in fire adaptation work. Whether it was the local coffee shop owner placing wildfire information flyers next to his credit card machine, an HOA leader sharing her lessons learned from 16 years of experience running a Firewise program, or a southwest region researcher working to expand the concept of fire adaptation beyond the parcel level— I was inspired by how every contribution, big or small, is vital to building communities more resilient to wildfire. Leadership and mentorship emerge in many forms, and I am motivated by the opportunity to contribute to this network of collaboration, where shared knowledge and collective action can help us all learn to better live with wildfire. 

As I settle into my new role, I would like to share some resources from across the state line that I developed with community partners while working for AZWI. These tools, along with others that can support your wildfire preparedness journey, remind us that building fire resilience doesn’t always require grand initiatives. Small, consistent efforts—whether it’s a conversation with a neighbor, an educational event at a local school, or maintaining your own property's fire-safe defensible space—contribute to a broader culture of preparedness. 

I hope that, together, we can celebrate big successes in our communities while also supporting each other through shared resources, consistent engagement, and ongoing collaboration. I look forward to learning from and working alongside all of you!  

This Wildfire Wednesday features:  

All the best, 
Megan 

Advancing Community Resilience in Arizona: Insights from the Arizona Wildfire Initiative

This blog post, originally featured on FAC Net, highlights the work of the community resilience team of the Arizona Wildfire Initiative.  

Image of a Sonoran desert ecosystem with the title of the blog and the author's name overlayed.

Between the spring and fall of 2024, AZWI staff met with over 100 Arizona residents, leaders, and officials across several key communities which were identified by a board of state-level experts as having high fire risk. Through these conversations, the team identified strengths, gaps, opportunities, and areas needing attention — at both the community and state level. A blog post from the national Fire Adapted Learning Network (FAC Net) details the social science interviewing and analysis process of AZWI staff and shares overarching lessons and recommendations that emerged during the consultation process. Many of these lessons are applicable to communities in New Mexico. 

A few key recommendations that emerged from AZWI’s consultation process include: 

  • Be strategic when prioritizing wildfire risk reduction efforts - Many communities have access to cost-share grants for retrofitting or vegetation removal on a first come, first-served basis. While easier to administer and seemingly fair, this approach inadvertently may hinder work on high-risk properties where fuels management may produce a  higher net benefit for the broader community (e.g. properties along evacuation routes or adjacent to high-risk areas). Solutions could include tiered cost-share structures based on household income or prioritization of properties where treatment would have the greatest impact on community safety.   

  •  Include communities lacking formal, structured leadership in funding and partnership opportunities - Federal, state, and local entities and their collaborators should explore how to make partnership  and funding opportunities more accessible for communities early along in their adaptation journey, or those without Homeowners’ Associations or other defined leadership structures. Many formal programs and collaborations to support community wildfire adaptation are easiest to implement in pre-structured spaces, leaving communities with a more horizontal structure behind. This may indicate the need for funds that support community meetings, relationship building, and small scale planning as a precursor to larger awards, or the need to include mechanisms that support more fragmented communities, such as placement of grant coordinators within existing locally trusted entities.   

  • Use unknowns about wildfire as catalysts for collaboration - “Unknowns” about wildfire in different ecosystems can serve as collaborative catalysts for place based discussions about wildfire resilience. For instance, uncertainty around fuels management in Sonoran ecosystems where little guidance exists can spark productive discussions between communities and experts. 

Read the full blog and explore other recommendations that emerged: https://fireadaptednetwork.org/advancing-community-resilience-in-arizona/ 

Guide to Organizing a Community Chipper Day

A so-called “chipper day” typically involves residents removing flammable vegetation from around their homes, especially within the 5-foot zone (Zone 0), and getting the resulting material (called slash) chipped and hauled offsite to reduce the risk of wildfire to their home and community. Coordinating with residents and local groups or organizations to make this kind of vegetation removal happen collaboratively can help maximize the impact of community wildfire safety-enhancing work (read about a community chipper day in La Barbaria Canyon that kickstarted community defensible space for the Neighborhood Association). 

This four-page guide, How to Organize a Community Chipper Day, provides the essential information a community leader would need to organize a successful chipper day, including various organizational structures to ensure the event meets the unique needs of any given community. 

Image of the first page of the "how to organize a community chipper day" guide

Page 1 of 4 of the guide

Wildfire Preparedness Actions You Can Take in Just 10 Minutes

With widespread drought and red flag warnings occurring as early as February, wildfire season is increasingly becoming a year-round concern. This can make the prospect of wildfire preparedness, often associated with lengthy and labor-intensive checklists, feel overwhelming. To help individuals take action at their own pace, FAC Net developed a resource that organizes wildfire preparedness tasks by time commitment. 

While home hardening remains a crucial aspect of wildfire preparedness, making homes and businesses more resistant to embers and fire, this resource’s focus expands beyond an individual’s property. It offers a broad range of meaningful projects—some of which take as little as 10 minutes—empowering individuals to engage in ongoing preparedness efforts that fit their capacity and schedules. 

The Fire Ecology Learning Lab - Agency and Informal Educator Resource

The Fire Ecology Learning Lab, originally created as a middle school lesson series for students in New Mexico and Arizona to explore the fire ecology of the region, has since expanded to offer hands-on, interactive lessons for students from kindergarten through high school. Educators, including agency professionals, environmental educators, and informal instructors, can easily bring these engaging lessons into classrooms or the field using ready-to-use kits.  

All the materials needed for a hands-on, engaging classroom visit—covering topics such as wildfire management, fire behavior, fire ecology, or fuels—can be requested as a rentable as a kit. Kits are currently being hosted by partner organizations across the Southwest including New Mexico Highlands University, New Mexico State University, and USFS Region 3 Office.

Description of the different kit types, including K-2, 3rd-5th grade, middle school, high school. and en Español

Lessons are available in both Spanish and English and are tailored to different grade levels. Modules were all designed based on science standards. 

For a full overview of the kit contents, lesson plans, or to request a kit, visit: https://www.swfireconsortium.org/agency-and-informal-educators/ 

Additional Resource

In an effort to build public literacy of wildfire resilience solutions, the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) launched a strategic communications campaign called Fix the Forest. With content vetted by wildfire practitioners and researchers, the campaign is grounded in science, traditional ecological knowledge, and the experience of on-the-ground managers.  

The EDF's ambition it to provide clear yet in-depth explanations of key wildfire resilience strategies (such as forest thinning, beneficial fire, community wildfire protection, and advanced firefighting techniques) to address the ongoing wildfire crisis. Resources on the webpage are accompanied by a glossary that provides definitions of essential terms related to forest and fire management, ensuring accessibility for all audiences. 

Pile burning from October Rio Trampas prescribed burn

This campaign is not associated with the Fix Our Forests Act, a congressional bill introduced in the House of Representatives in January 2025. That legislation focuses on federal forest management requirements, including requirements concerning reducing wildfire threats, expediting the review of certain forest management projects, and implementing forest management projects and other activities. 

Upcoming Events

Learning to Live with Fire – Lunch and Learn Webinar Series 

New Mexico State University logo

Join Doug Cram, Forest and Fire Specialist at the New Mexico State University Cooperative Extension Office, for a series of informative one-hour webinars designed to help New Mexico residents prepare for wildfire season. Each session includes a Q&A segment, offering guidance on wildfire preparedness, evacuation strategies, and practical steps to protect your home, property, and community. 

The 2025 Lunch & Learn webinar series is tailored for homeowners and residents who want to enhance their wildfire awareness, improve their emergency readiness, and adopt proactive measures for living safely in a fire-prone environment—which includes all of New Mexico. 

Sessions begin at noon and will be recorded. 

2025 Webinar Schedule 

  • March 27th - Wildfire! You have 5 minutes to evacuate. What should you do? 

  • April 3rd - Steps to safeguard your home, yard, and neighborhood against wildfire. 

  • April 10th - Farm and ranch wildfire considerations. 

The Bear Truth: Black Bear Resource Selection and Response to Wildfire and Forest Restoration Treatments | Apr 9, 2025 at 11:00 AM Mountain 

An era of fire suppression, compounded by selective harvesting of large diameter trees and overgrazing, has altered historical fire regimes in the western United States. These fire and land management practices have left many western forests with increased fuel loads and high densities of small diameter trees. This increased tree density has been associated with decreased biodiversity, and reduced habitat quality for some species. 

Managers are attempting to mitigate altered fire regimes using restoration thinning and prescribed burns to reduce fuel loads and restore historical forest structure and fire regimes. As mitigation treatments become more common, there is a need to understand the effects of large-scale forest manipulation on wildlife and habitat. Using GPS locations spanning 2012-2022 within the Jemez Mountains, research sought to assess multi-scale seasonal resource selection functions to determine how black bears respond to wildfires and forest restoration treatments, including the effect of fire severity, time since the disturbance, and other environmental and topographic variables relevant to black bears. 

Presented by Matt Keeling from New Mexico State University, this presentation will provide valuable insights for managers seeking to reduce wildfire risk while maintaining or enhancing habitat for black bears or sympatric species in fire prone landscapes by explaining spatio-temporal responses of black bears to forest restoration treatments and wildfires. 

Pre- and Post-Fire Impacts of Beaver Dams and Beaver Dam Analogs | Tuesday, April 15, 2025 at 10AM Mountain 

Given the increasing severity of wildfires and their associated impacts across the country, there is significant attention on the tools that are available to address these challenges. Recent research highlights that conservation and restoration of freshwater ecosystems may play an important, yet overlooked, role in wildfire management.  

Dr. Emily Fairfax, Assistant Professor at the University of Minnesota and Alexander Funk, Director of Water Resources and Senior Counsel at the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, will touch on the role of beaver dams and their analogs in creating wetlands, the nexus between freshwater systems and fire, and how this information can be utilized to enact policy change to conserve these ecotypes. 

Wildfire Wednesdays #153: State Legislation for Forests, Watersheds, and Fire Resilience

Happy Fire Friday, FAC Network!

The New Mexico State Legislature convenes every year on the third Tuesday in January, holding 60-day sessions in odd-numbered years (such as 2025) and 30-day sessions (also called short sessions) in even numbered years. During these sessions, the chambers of the Legislature consider bills (the form of legislation used to propose laws), resolutions (a formal declaration of the Legislature concerning some subject that it either cannot or does not wish to control by law), and memorials (an expression of legislative desire that is usually addressed to another governmental body in the form of a petition or declaration of intent). Learn more about the State legislative process here.

In this year’s legislative session, several bills related to forestry, fire, and water are up for consideration. These bills making it to the floors of the House and the Senate indicates that New Mexicans — and their representatives — are putting wildfire and natural resource concerns first. Today’s Wildfire Wednesday discusses the implication of these bills being debated and considered for passage and looks at the details of several of the most impactful.

This Wildfire Wednesday features:

Stay fire safe as the spring winds start to blow,
Rachel

The Importance of Legislative Consideration

What it means for forests, water, and fire safety to be before the State Legislature

Photo by Andrew Weber for the Library of Congress.

The potential passage of the bills outlined below is important because, once passed, they become codified into statute and state law. This makes the objectives and directives in the law mandatory "must do" items for state employees, including those at the EMNRD Forestry Division. Creation of new programs and codifying amendments to existing law are one way to ensure new sources of state funding that can help protect residents against the next wildfire. 

While homeowners and residents are ultimately responsible for readying their land place of residence for fire, the State and its Agencies also have a responsibility to help residents establish defensible space and harden their homes. The State and partner organizations have historically done this through resident education and outreach with minimal financial assistance. Some of the bills mentioned below, if passed, will go a step further by providing residents with the financial incentive to do so (see SB33). In addition to establishing defensible space and home hardening, we should also be working to clear and thin the overgrown forest buffers that surround so many of our state's rural communities (see HB175). Passage of these bills — and even the consideration of them — really means that New Mexico is looking into its warmer and drier future and taking proactive steps to make sure that everyone is protected. 

Wildfire Prepared Act: SB33

When fire gets into an urban or developed area, it can spread from structure to structure rather than from burning vegetation to structure. For this reason, home hardening is an essential component of wildfire preparedness and is most effective when a majority of neighbors in a community individually harden their homes to collectively reduce their risk. The components of home hardening such as installing or replacing vents, siding, decks, roofs, and creating a ‘zero zone’ with no vegetation next to the house is necessary but financially out of reach for many residents.

Senate Bill 33 aims to increase home hardening efforts across the state three ways:

  1. Making grants available to residents and organizations who can assist with making structural modifications to homes to harden them to fire. This work, while essential, is typically ineligible for financial assistance through existing federal and state grant opportunities.

  2. Expanding the state Fire Planning Task Force to develop defensible space standards and develop standards that will make a property eligible for wildfire prepared certification, a step which may help landowners maintain or secure wildfire insurance.

  3. Creating a state Forestry Division-administered ‘Wildfire Prepared Fund’ to support staffing, administration, and implementation of the other two provisions of this bill.

Read more in the SB33 Fact Sheet below. For more information, please contact EMNRD Forestry Division personnel George Ducker (george.ducker@emnrd.nm.gov) or Laura McCarthy (laura.mccarthy@emnrd.nm.gov).

New Mexico lawmakers are advancing a bill to prevent wildfires, including by removing fuels in the forest, before the next one strikes. This is Senate Bill 33, the Wildfire Prepared Act, which will help New Mexicans defend their homes against wildfires and provide grants for defensible space improvements and home hardening. "We're not going to stop wildfires altogether, but we can reduce them," said State Forester Laura McCarthy. "SB33 gets us at the things that we actually can control -- and that is the vegetation around properties." Watch the video below or view this article from radio station KSFR to learn more:

Forest and Watershed Restoration Act Amendment: HB175

Creating Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) Buffers

For communities situated close to or abutting natural areas (wildlands), unmanaged flammable vegetation and lack of buffer zones (strategic barriers between natural vegetation and residential areas) create a dangerous environment where wildfires can rapidly spread from natural areas into residential neighborhoods, putting homes, lives, and entire communities at critical risk. Creating Buffer zones can significantly slow the spread of wildfires and create safer, more defensible operational areas from which firefighters can combat approaching flames.

House Bill 175 seeks to comprehensively address wildfire prevention and close this gap in protection by making strategic amendments to expand the Forest Conservation Act. It will:

  • Introduce precise legal definitions for "buffer zones" and "high-risk areas", providing clear guidelines for implementing protective measures around communities vulnerable to wildfire threats.

  • Expand the definition of eligible projects to explicitly include the creation and maintenance of protective buffers around wildland-urban interfaces, ensuring that preventative measures can be legally and financially supported.

  • Enable funds in the Forest Land Protection Revolving Fund to be used for these critical preventative infrastructure projects, transforming potential vulnerability into proactive community protection.

Read more in the HB175 Fact Sheet. For more information, please contact EMNRD Forestry Division personnel George Ducker (george.ducker@emnrd.nm.gov) or Laura McCarthy (laura.mccarthy@emnrd.nm.gov).

Other Important Bills

Timber Grading Act & Rural Electric Cooperative Wildfire Liability

…………………………

House Bill 553, the Timber Grading Act

Many local sawmills source their raw material from trees harvested from New Mexico forests, often from forest health restoration thinning projects. Smaller-diameter trees can be made into products such as latillas, wooden shipping pallets, animal bedding, wood stove pellets, molding, and more. Trees that are large enough to be cut into structural lumber and beams (like those you might buy at a hardware store) also make their way into mills; however, in order for those products to be sold commercially or for weight-bearing purposes (such as in home construction), they must first be ‘graded’ by a professional who determines that they are of an acceptable quality. There are no qualified graders in-state, so if a sawmill wants to get their lumber graded and approved for sale, they must pay an out-of-state professional to travel to their wood yard. This is financially inaccessible for many small mills, meaning that they are not able to produce and sell this type of product and the people of New Mexico are not able to purchase locally sourced and produced lumber.

House Bill 553 seeks to eliminate this barrier by establishing the Timber Grading Act to create a state-specific structural timber grading certification system for in-state sawmills. The EMNRD-Forestry Division will develop a grading certificate program, likely through a public post-secondary educational institution, to train sawmill owners and employees in timber grading. Participants can receive a five-year certification after completing the program, with the division able to charge up to $250 for the certificate. The bill requires graders to create detailed labels for graded timber, including information like the sawmill location, timber species, cut date, and moisture content. Importantly, timber graded and labeled under this in-state program will be considered equivalent to timber grade-stamped by accredited lumber agencies and can be used in all residential and commercial buildings in New Mexico. The bill defines key terms such as "grader" (a certified sawmill owner or employee who can inspect, grade, and label timber) and "structural timber" (dimensional lumber, structural beams, and vigas milled within New Mexico).

…………………………

House Bill 334, Rural Electric Cooperative Wildfire Liability

Following decades of power line-sparked wildfires across the West, Electric Cooperatives are coming under increased scrutiny and pressure to ensure the fire safety of their infrastructure. House Bill 334 seeks to improve Electric Cooperative liability by requiring company wildfire mitigation plans and allowing for EMNRD-Forestry Division to review those plans for adequacy. In return for establishing wildfire mitigation measures, limits will be set on liability and damage awards and claim filing against participating Electric Cooperatives.

Elements that must be included in a company’s wildfire mitigation plan include:

  • A description and map of the service area and electric system within,

  • Methods that the company will use to assess wildfire risk,

  • Procedures and standards for vegetation management within the service area,

  • Electric system maintenance and inspection procedures,

  • The design, procedures, and standards for construction of the electric system,

  • Procedures used to monitor and forecast potentially hazardous weather and otherwise remain situationally aware,

  • Emergency response and operational procedures that will be used in the event of a wildfire or during wildfire conditions,

  • Procedures to restore the electric system in the event of a wildfire, and

  • A description of the potential impact of the plan's mitigation measures on public safety, first responders and health and communication infrastructure.

An electric cooperative's plan will be effective for five years upon the date of approval by the commission. The bill sets forth liability limitations or exemptions for Electric Cooperatives if they comply with their approved plan, while still allowing for those impacted by a fire to claim losses if said wildfire is caused by a powerline failure or otherwise caused by the company. In this way, public safety is improved, fire victims are protected, and electric cooperatives have the safeguard of limited liability and will stay in business.

Upcoming Events

Webinar on lessons from the Jemez Mountains

A Long-Term View of Collaborative Forest Management: The 15-Year Southwest Jemez CFLRP Report // Tuesday, March 25, 2025 at 12:00 PM Mountain

Multi-party monitoring is a central feature of the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program (CFLRP) and allows communities to assess the ecological, social, and economic impacts of these landscape-scale stewardship projects over a long period. The Southwest Jemez Mountains (SWJM) CFLRP, implemented from 2010-2024 in north-central New Mexico, was led by 40 agencies, organizations, Tribal entities or representatives, universities, contractors, and citizen volunteers. The goal of the SWJM project was the large-scale restoration of forest ecosystems and improvement of overall resilience to major disturbances, including fire, insects and disease, and a changing climate. 

In this presentation from the Southwest Fire Science Consortium, key Collaborative members Jeremy Marshall, Robert Parmenter, Steven Del Favero, and Jeremy Golston will present their lessons learned from 15 years of cooperative work and multi-party monitoring. They will discuss whether the goals of the CFLRP were met, focusing on the impacts of multi-decadal managed and prescribed fire, forest thinning, and the monitoring and computer modeling showing that forest resilience and restoration treatments ultimately reduced fire risk or severity in the treatment area. This presentation offers insight for land managers currently involved in landscape-scale restoration and wildfire risk reduction and is based on the SWJM CFLRP Final Monitoring Report, expected to be released in the spring of 2025.

Wildfire Wednesdays #152: Community Ordinances and Building Codes for Fire Protection

Happy Fire Friday, FAC Community!

According to Wildfire Risk to Communities, the majority of homes lost to wildfire are first ignited by embers and small flames. By reducing the susceptibility of the home and the immediately surrounding area, that structure’s chances surviving a wildfire are greatly increased. Creating ignition-resistant homes depends on actions to “harden” the physical structure against embers and flames (called home hardening) and actions to reduce flammability of the “home ignition zones” around the home (called defensible space). Neighborhood associations and local governments can create incentives and regulations, such as building codes, land development standards, and defensible space ordinances, to encourage ignition-resistant neighborhoods. Today we are digging into the current reality and efficacy of these incentive and enforcement mechanisms, including a local example of a newly-adopted ordinance in “in the news”!

This Wildfire Wednesday features:

Take care,
Rachel

Defensible Space Ordinances and Building Codes

[The information below is partially excerpted from the Sustainable Development Code]

Over the past several decades, wildfire risk and its associated costs and impacts on communities has been increasing across the United States. Between 2018 and 2021, wildfires in the U.S. were associated with over $79.8 billion in costs, and fire years (and expenses) have only inflated since then with the return of the urban conflagration. According to data from the First Street Foundation, 50% of all addresses in the lower 48 states face some degree of wildfire risk; in some rural states, more than 90% of properties face some risk. In 2022 when the data was released, more than 686,000 properties at risk of wildfire faced at least a 1% chance of burning that year. This means that over a 30 year mortgage period, those homes have a 26% chance of burning. (New York Times, 2022).

Source: First Street Foundation
The future projection reflects a warming scenario in which countries take measures to curb emissions over the next 30 years roughly in line with pledges under the Paris climate agreement. The future risk map reflects changes in temperature, precipitation and other climatic factors, but the model relies on historical weather, development patterns and other inputs.

Because of the growing wildfire risk to communities and the history of devastation in many Western states, some local governments have enacted ordinances (i.e. a law set forth by a governmental authority, specifically a municipal regulation) such as ‘defensible space ordinances’ to minimize damage from wildfire in the built environment.

Defensible Space Ordinances

While it takes a comprehensive approach to adapt to and mitigate wildfires, a defensible space ordinance is an important step. This piece of legislation regulates the type and amount of combustible materials and vegetation allowed in designated areas around inhabited structures within a specific community or town. Requiring resident and landowners to thin the trees and remove the plants growing too close to their homes can help prevent or reduce the spread of fire to inhabited structures or other values at risk by reducing the prevalence of flammable materials or vegetation on a property. Establishing defensible space reduces the likelihood of a home igniting by direct flame contact or exposure to the radiant heat of a wildfire. Defensible space ordinances also help reduce ember production; this means that creating defensible space reduces the likelihood that embers will ignite a structure and spread to neighboring structures or surrounding vegetation. Finally, slowing the progress of an approaching wildfire can help keep firefighters safe while they access or defend a property.

When a fire comes to town, firefighters are often tasked with assessing structures on whether or not they would likely burn. As one firefighter said during the Los Angeles fires, “my job was to go inspect, do rounds through the neighborhood, see which [homes] had vegetation management, or at least try to get some sort of mitigation around the home before the fire came, and being able to mark off the houses that we think we can, and then we can’t save”(KSUT, 2025). Defensible space around your home, and especially defensible space required and enforced at a neighborhood scale, means that the home is less likely to catch on fire in the first place but also that it is more likely to be prioritized for protection by firefighters.

Building Codes

"It's really important that we design and build structures to resist ember exposures. What you do to the roof, what you do in that immediate five-foot zone around the home and underneath the decks is critically important" (NPR, 2020).

While California has mandated wildfire building codes for more than a decade in high-risk areas, other states have struggled to approve comprehensive codes that address wildfire risk mitigation. The problem is the perception that building to wildfire-resistant standards tends to be more expensive upfront that traditional construction, and this can lead to pushback from constituents and leaders. However, a study by Headwaters Economics found fire-resistant homes can be cheaper than traditional homes, thanks in large part to using more affordable fiber-cement siding (see the summary of the report here).

Building codes are sets of regulations, standards, and guidelines adopted by states and local communities to promote the construction of safe and durable structures. Building codes help safeguard people and property from hazards such as fires, electrical malfunctions, severe weather, and natural disasters. Wildland-urban interface (WUI) codes, and more widespread wildfire building codes (including roofing codes and more), can help reduce the potential for wildland fires to spread into or through the built environment. Fire-rated components and materials in home construction help control the spread of fire and limit damage to a burning building and surrounding structures. You’re probably familiar with some fire-related regulations - smoke detectors in your home or sprinklers in a commercial building - but building codes can go beyond those small additions, requiring home builders and municipalities to take a wider view of wildfire preparedness and be fire smart when they build or rebuild homes after a fire.

Regulation in the West

Few states have building codes that address wildfire. California, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Utah all have statewide wildfire codes, Oregon’s new wildfire rules recently went into effect, and Colorado is working on creating a Wildfire Resilience Code Board. In many places, local communities can adopt their own building codes and wildfire building requirements. The idea behind these local measures is that effective wildland urban interface (WUI) fire risk management requires action by local communities and individual property owners; however, even though societal response to a natural hazard at the local level is where the greatest control over mitigation can be exercised, it is also difficult to motivate

Defensible space ordinances in the West are developed through a collaborative process involving fire agencies, local governments, land use planners, and community input. They take into account factors like wildfire risk, vegetation type, terrain, local building codes, and the specific needs of each region to create regulations that mandate geography-specific clearing of flammable vegetation around homes and structures, thus creating a buffer zone to slow the spread of wildfire and protect property during a fire.
Wildfire building codes are developed by incorporating state-level regulations, often based on model codes like the International Wildland Urban Interface Code (IWUIC), alongside input from local jurisdictions, fire agencies, and research institutions. These codes consider factors like fire risk mapping, vegetation types, topography, and specific construction materials to create standards for building design that can better withstand wildfires; they typically focus on fire-resistant materials for roofs, siding, windows, vents, and landscaping requirements around the structure to minimize ignition points.

WUI homeowners are more accepting of policies that are seen as both fair and part of a more comprehensive risk reduction strategy. Whether individuals voluntarily adopt policies - or only accept them because they are mandatory - depends on their perceived risk severity, views about the proper roles of government, and beliefs about alternatives to regulatory approaches (e.g. private insurance, education, ignition source reduction). Individual compliance with these policies, on the other hand, is related to the feasibility of home hardening and defensible space in terms of household costs and yard waste disposal options, neighborhood norms, competing land use objectives, insurance considerations, and whether or not the policy is mandatory (McCaffrey, 2009).

In the News

Angel Fire, led by FAC principles and leadership, passes new Defensible Space Ordinance

“The Village of Angel Fire Council took a critical step toward wildfire mitigation at its Jan. 28 meeting, voting unanimously to proceed with a Defensible Space Ordinance. The ordinance, aimed at improving fire safety for developed properties, is part of a broader push to help residents protect their homes—and their homeowners’ insurance policies.

Screenshot of the World Journal article announcing the adoption of the new defensible space ordinance, February 6, 2025.

“The plan, developed in partnership with the Fire Adapted Community Committee, will allow property owners to request an assessment from the Angel Fire Fire Department. Based on National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) guidelines, the evaluation will outline steps for creating defensible space around structures. Property owners who complete the recommended actions will receive a certificate to present to their insurance providers… With approval secured, the ordinance will now go through legal review and public hearings before taking effect, tentatively scheduled for April 1.” (World Journal, February 6, 2025)

This effort was led, in part, by FACNM leader Mike Overby and informed by his network of peers.

…………………………….

Prescribed Fire, Managed Burning, and Previous Wildfires Reduce Fire Severity

In this new peer-reviewed journal article, authors evaluated the association between previously implemented fuels reduction and forest restoration activities (including prescribed fire and managed wildfire), previous wildland fire, and fire severity in the 2022 Black Fire that occurred in southwestern New Mexico. This exercise analyzed the real-world impacts of treatments that, for years, scientific literature and professional knowledge have indicated will reduce future fire severity.

A section of Figure 1, Patterns of burn severity and previous treatment in the 2022 Black Fire, which burned in southwestern New Mexico, USA, from the article.

Over 54% of the >131,000 ha burned area had been previously treated, providing an ideal opportunity to examine the influence of extensive past treatments on fire behavior in a ‘gigafire’. In the landscape-scale analysis, previously treated areas were the most important predictor of both moderate- and high-severity fire, with data indicating that the proportion of area burned at high-severity decreased by an average of 51%. At a fine scale, when the fire front encountered a previously treated area, the observed burn severity decreased, regardless of whether the fire was burning at high, moderate, or low intensity at the time of encounter. The range of fuel conditions that existed on the landscape prior to the Black Fire, produced by many previous fires, made such a positive outcome possible. The findings show that burn severity patterns within the Black Fire were best explained by the presence or absence of previous fire, rather than fire weather or vegetation factors.

Chama District Fire Training Opportunities

This winter and spring, the Chama District of the NM Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resources Department - Forestry Division is hosting wildland firefighter courses required for National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) certification. In-person classes will be held at Volunteer Fire Stations across northern New Mexico (see schedule for more details). Several of the courses, including an upcoming S-131 - Firefighter Type I training on March 5-6, are offered virtually and in the evenings to accommodate those who cannot attend midday or in-person trainings. These intended audience for these classes is volunteer firefighters; however, inquiries by others are welcome to ensure that each class has at least10 students.

View the full schedule of classes by clicking on the image; to enroll or get more information, contact instructor Pablo Montenegro at pablo.montenegro@emnrd.nm.gov.

The Wildfire Resilience Training Center (WRTC) in las Vegas, NM is also offering a handful of first responder and basic wildland firefighter courses this spring. Students who complete the full suite of classes will have the prerequisite training and may be eligible for hiring in the federal and local fire workforce.

View the full schedule of classes in Wildfire Wednesday #150; to enroll or get more information, contact WRTC Director Hank Blackwell at hblackwell@luna.edu.

Wildfire Wednesdays #151: Passing the Torch - Fire Learning for the Next Generation

Happy Wednesday!

Firefighters are a paradox in many ways - in children’s books and the eyes of their fellow community members, they are Local Heros dressed in brightly colored Nomex, wielding axes and hoses, off to save the day, the forest, or the town; however, this image often glosses over the years of training, rough conditions, high barriers to entry, and low wages that reflect a firefighter’s reality. These elements of the job can lead to difficulty recruiting and retaining trained fire personnel at a time when the demand is high and rising. This week’s newsletter is an in-depth look at one program aiming to teach and equip local New Mexico youth to be the next generation of fire managers.

This Wildfire Wednesday features:

Thank you to Andrew Pearson and Sarah DeMay of the Forest Stewards Guild who contributed their written reflections and photos to this Wildfire Wednesday.

Fire Learning for the Next Generation

The Forest Stewards Youth Corps

Not everyone is given the opportunity to travel across vast stretches of beautiful New Mexican landscape while getting paid, receiving extensive job and career training, and contributing to wildfire readiness and risk reduction in this fire-prone state, but for the Forest Stewards Youth Corps (FSYC) crews, that prospect is their reality for 13 weeks every autumn.  

For the past 30 years, the FSYC program has been a source of employment and education opportunities for New Mexico youth. The goal of the program is to put the forest first for the long haul, a key part of which is building the next generation of responsible forest stewards. By providing hands-on training and professional development, the program helps kickstart both interest and careers in forestry and natural resources management. The fall FSYC program, which focuses on fire and management of fuels (the flammable organic material which burns during wildfires), was established in 2018. It builds on the success of the FSYC summer program by providing recent high school and college graduates aged 18-25 with training and certification in topics related to forestry and wildland fire such as NWCG Basic Wildland Fire Fighting certification, Wildland Fire Chainsaw Use, Forestry and Timber Management, and more. 

Crew members learn about chainsaw safety, use, maintenance, and tree felling during their initial immersive two-week training.

The fall program kicks off with two weeks of intensive and immersive training, often hosted at the headquarters of longtime partner Cottonwood Gulch Expeditions in Thoreau, NM, during which crew members gain a strong and holistic foundational knowledge of wildland firefighting, safe chainsaw operation, leadership dynamics, and how to thrive as a member of a team. Once equipped with this crucial knowledge and experience, the crews return to their home locations (all crews are hosted by either a US Forest Service (USFS) Ranger District or Pueblo of Jemez Natural Resources Department (NRD)) to begin the landscape and community restoration and fire resiliency work for which they were trained. 

Benefitting the Land and the people who manage it

These crews provide an invaluable benefit to their host unit and to state fire management efforts as a whole: USFS Districts are chronically understaffed, a reality which sometimes leaves them without the personnel necessary to accomplish high-priority projects on the public lands in their charge. Pueblo of Jemez NRD similarly has a small staff and thousands of acres of forest to manage. FSYC crews’ time, funded by the New Mexico Youth Conservation Corps Commission, provides some relief from the immense budgetary pressures of personnel hiring, onboarding, and training seasonal staff so that the agencies can focus on making work happen on time and on the ground.

A crew member looks at the cloud of smoke rising from the North Joaquin Prescribed Burn.

One of the crucial but labor-intensive projects that requires a lot of training and capacity is prescribed burning. Prescribed fire or intentional burning is the controlled ignition of fuels such as downed branches, shrubs, grass, and needles under specific conditions and in a predetermined area to protect communities, water sources, and wildlife habitat by minimizing the material available to burn in future wildfires, reducing the likelihood of future ignitions moving from the forest floor to the tree tops, and benefiting the land through nutrient cycling. Intentional fire has been implemented across the world for millennia and is used as a tool on both public and private lands across the west to reintroduce fire to our fire-adapted landscapes.  To learn more about a successful collaborative approach to fire management and intentional burning for community and resource benefit, read about the All Hands All Lands Burn Team approach. 

Building careers and local capacity

In 2024, the FSYC crews joined with the USFS, US Fish and Wildlife Service, and All Hands All Lands to implement the North Joaquin Rx, a prescribed burn outside of Jemez Springs, NM. As many of the FSYC participants’ first real-world fire experience, the burn provided an opportunity to learn in real time how to work within a crew structure and within the burn organization as a whole, participating in holding operations (making sure that the fire doesn’t burn outside of the predetermined boundaries) and firing operations (lighting the fire in a controlled manner) for the duration of the entire 1,701 acre burn operation.

Crew members refill drip torches with fuel mix as part of firing operations.

This burn also provided a unique opportunity for the youth crews to work with and learn from FSYC alumni. Forest Service fire engine crew members from three different Ranger Districts all got their start as wildland fire professionals as members of the Guild’s fall youth crews. At a time when firefighting resources are stretched increasingly thin during severe fires or during the most fire-prone times of the year and the need for dedicated and trained personnel is high and rising, this clearly demonstrates the positive and long-term impact that FSYC crews have within local communities and the wildland fire workforce.  Building careers for local youth in forestry and wildland fire in New Mexico is a win-win situation: fire crews have better retention when they can hire locally, and wildland fire is a career option within rural communities where jobs are often otherwise scarce.

Collaboration is key

Snow White’s companions said to “whistle while you work”, a sentiment the fall FSYC crews take to heart as they bring some levity to a photo and a work day spent thinning the forest.

In addition to hands-on fire fighting and lighting, FSYC crews also learn-by-doing about collaborative work and relationship building. Throughout their season, crew members interface extensively with federal and local agency staff, private landowners, and Tribal land managers as they plan and discuss important collaborative land management projects. One landowner who stewards 45 forested acres adjacent to Santa Fe National Forest land worked closely with the Espanola-based FSYC crew to complete fuels reduction forest thinning work. This project provided a dual benefit to the community by reducing fire risk near the National Forest boundary and decreasing fuels for a new housing development nearby on the outskirts of Santa Fe. Treating large tracts of land like this that are not under the public domain, a reality made possible by FSYC crews, is an example of the work which is crucial to maintaining a healthy and sustainable wildland-urban interface. 

Looking back on another successful FSYC Fall season, it's encouraging to see so many young New Mexicans picking up the torch of conservation and improving their communities daily. Equipped with in-demand certifications and transferable job skills, these young crews are growing their own roots alongside the very forests they call home. 

But wait, there’s more!
Additional Youth and Employment Development Programs in NM

FSYC is not the only program seeking to equip local youth and young adults with the knowledge and skills to join the land stewardship workforce and contribute to their communities. Several other programs from across the State are:

  • Ancestral Lands Conservation Corps hosts Adult and Youth Crews, Local Placements, and more. Learn about their programs here.

  • Rocky Mountains Youth Corps 18+ program, in addition to their other youth programs, offers young adults a diverse set of hard skills training opportunities. Read about their fire experience in this 2021 news article.

Additional Resources

Research and Tools from the Southwest Fire Science Consortium

Grant Opportunity: 2025 Wildfire Risk Reduction Program

Click on the image to view and download the full grant application package.

New Mexico Counties is pleased to announce the 2025-2026 Wildfire Risk Reduction Program. The grant program assists communities throughout New Mexico in reducing their risk from wildland fire on non-federal lands. Funding for this program is provided by the National Fire Plan through the Department of the Interior/Bureau of Land Management for communities in the wildland-urban interface and is intended to directly benefit communities that may be impacted by wildland fire initiating from or spreading to BLM public land. 

 Funding categories include:

  • CWPP updates up to $25,000/project

  • Education and outreach activities up to $20,000/project

  • Hazardous fuels reduction projects up to $100,000/project

Applications are due to the local BLM field office for signature(s) by Friday, March 7, 2025. You can access the application package here or by visiting https://www.nmcounties.org/services/programs/ where you can view the application and checklist. For additional information, contact Hannah Kase Woods, Government Relations Specialist at hwoods@nmcounties.org or by calling 505-820-8102 (office) or 253-269-8025 (cell).

Wildfire Wednesdays #150: Resources from the Region

Happy Wednesday, Fire Adapted Community!

With a new year comes a lot of exciting upcoming opportunities and resources from across the region. From local classes and training opportunities to educational documentaries and resources for home hardening, winter is the perfect time to lean into the concept of Wildfire is Year-Round by learning more about risks and mitigation.

This Wildfire Wednesday features:

Stay warm and be well,
Rachel

Wildfire Resiliency Training Center Opportunities

The 2022 Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire Complex and its aftermath highlighted a need for a more comprehensive approach to wildfire resiliency. One prong of that comprehensive approach is local capacity - better training and opportunities for community members to become involved with fire and land management. In response, Luna Community College launched the Wildfire Resilience Training Center (WRTC) in las Vegas, NM. The Center offers classes, weekend trainings, and other hands-on opportunities for students to gain practical skills and knowledge, either furthering their current career or building the foundation to begin working in a new field.

This winter and spring, WRTC is offering a handful of first responder and basic wildland firefighter courses. Students who complete the full suite of classes will have the prerequisite training and may be eligible for hiring in the federal and local fire workforce.

View the full schedule of classes below; to enroll or get more information, contact WRTC Director Hank Blackwell at hblackwell@luna.edu.

Documentary

The Fire Problem

University of Montana - Wilderness Institute and USDA Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory

Lives are being impacted by extreme wildfires that threaten our communities and change our forests. What are the sources of this escalating problem, and can it be solved? This documentary draws from leading fire scientists, experienced land managers, and seasoned firefighters. The good news – in spite of climate change and the alarming fire trajectory, these experts make a case for a clear and effective path forward.

“We’re ringing the bell, we’re all in the struggle together. Everybody has a different role in this [path to a more fire adapted future].”

The Importance of Home Hardening

Click to view CalFire’s Home Hardening guide

Click to learn about IBHS’s Wildfire Prepared Home program

Research tells us that most homes ignite during a wildfire as a result of embers or small flames (National Interagency Fire Center). During urban conflagrations, fire does not spread from house to house via burning vegetation; rather, the energy released by one burning house carries the fire to the next one (NPR: Insights from an expert on large urban fires and how to prevent them). There are steps that homeowners can take to reduce the risk, with the most important efforts occurring on and immediately around the home.

Home hardening is the term used to describe vegetation management compliance and building materials used to resist the intrusion of flames or embers projected by a wildland fire. It can be applied to new construction or for retrofitting an older home. Home Hardening considers the relationship between your home and its exposure to nearby combustible features such as vegetation, vehicles, accessory buildings, or even miscellaneous structures like a fence.

Learn more about where to start addressing your home's vulnerabilities to better withstand wildfire with CalFire’s interactive Home Hardening guide and the Wildfire Prepared Home program from IBHS, a designation program which enables homeowners to take preventative measures for their home and yard to protect against wildfire. You can read more about IBHS’s program in Wildfire Wednesday #143.

Reflections from the National FAC Learning Network

In this blog post from FAC Net, staff and leadership reflect on what 2024 meant to them and what the FAC community was able to accomplish as seen through the lens of hindsight. “2024 was a busy and exciting year for the Fire Networks as we expanded our impact and continued to invest in people and place-based efforts to change our relationship with fire. Since the beginning of our 22-year partnership, our vision remains clear: to foster viable fire cultures across the country. We envision a future where fire once again plays its fundamental role as an ecological and cultural process. Where communities are empowered and prepared for wildfire. Where the workforce welcomes diverse viewpoints, skills and life experiences to address the complexity of the challenge. And where people who live within and depend on fire-adapted ecosystems have a role and voice, shared ownership, and where power and responsibility are distributed equitably.”

The reflection focuses on:

  • Supporting partnerships and collaborative approaches,

  • Facilitating and supporting learning networks,

  • Informing policy and funding environments at state and federal levels, and

  • Inspiring others across the globe

Read the full reflection and learn more about what comes next in 2025 on their website: www.fireadaptednetwork.org/fire-networks-2024-year-in-review/

Wildfire Wednesdays #149: Winter Roundup

Happy Wednesday - and happy New Year - FACNM community!

As everyone slowly returns from their holiday breaks and celebrations to the everyday work of creating fire adapted communities, we want to share a roundup of recent and interesting resources, research, and releases that are relevant to Network leaders, members, and affiliates. Today’s Wildfire Wednesday is a winter roundup of current events in fire learning and living.

We would also like to thank Gabe Kohler for the years of leadership and humor in his role as network coordinator. If you missed it, read his departing newsletter and remarks here.

This Wildfire Wednesday features:

Stay warm,
Rachel

Guidelines For Living With Fire

Fire-Resistant Landscaping

Colorado State University and the Colorado State Forest Service recently released a useful 8-page guidance document on fire resistant landscaping; while the fact sheet is geared toward CO residents, many of the tips and recommendations within are directly applicable to New Mexico and our wealth of wildland urban interface. The document goes through recommendations for vegetation and mindful landscaping in each of the home ignition zones defined in defensible space planning. Critically, it also recommends easy actions for long-term and annual maintenance.

Quick facts from the sheet:

  • Combined with structural hardening, a fire-resistant landscape can help a structure survive a wildfire.

  • A fire-resistant landscape considers both the amount and type of vegetation and the connections between vegetation and a structure.

  • Many native grasses, perennials, shrubs and trees are adapted to fire, and many require less water than commonly used non-native plants. When properly maintained, native vegetation can be used in landscaping.

  • Communities and neighbors in the wildland-urban interface (WUI) should work together to collectively reduce their risk from wildfire.

  • Maintenance should focus on keeping plants healthy and removing any accumulated debris and dead material within 30 feet of structures.

  • Certain drought-adapted plants can provide the balance between fire resistance and water conservation.

  • Landscaping needs frequent maintenance to effectively reduce wildfire risk

Read more about landscaping for fire resistance and download the full fact sheet.

Air Quality Mobile App

EPA's AirNow mobile app provides a simple interface for quickly checking current and forecast air quality information for planning daily activities and protecting your health. The app automatically displays the current AQI (Air Quality Index) for your local area or any area you wish to check, and allows you to store multiple areas for quick reference.

The app also includes the AirNow Fire and Smoke map, which the EPA produced in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service. It includes the most comprehensive information about wildfire smoke and air quality. You can view the Fire and Smoke Map by tapping the smoke icon on the bottom right of the screen.

Additionally, the interactive map includes data for air quality for PM 2.5, PM 10, and ozone monitors in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. You can view the interactive map by tapping the map icon at the bottom of the screen.

Upcoming Events and Engagement Opportunities

2025 New Mexico Tribal Forest & Fire Summit
March 4-6, 2025 — Mescalero, NM

The annual New Mexico Tribal Forest & Fire Summit brings together Tribal foresters, practitioners, natural resource managers, emergency departments, and experts to center the needs, challenges, and success of Tribal forestry and fire management. Join us in 2025 for “Roots for the Future: Strengthening Indigenous-Led Conservation” to find resources and training, build capacity, and collaborate in a network that’s focused on the healthy future of Tribal lands. The Summit is free for all participants.

Post-Fire Survey

Responses requested for Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon watershed restoration plan questionnaire

The New Mexico Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (DHSEM), along with its partners, are gathering data to guide the long-term watershed restoration plan in areas impacted by the 2022 Hermit's Peak/Calf Canyon (HPCC) fire and post-fire flooding.

Photo courtesy of the La Cienega Fire Department

This survey is intended to help managers identify flooding issues and/or flood-related damage in areas impacted by the fire. Those who have been impacted, live in the HPCC footprint, or work in this landscape are being asked to provide input about your watershed. The more feedback that the community provides, the better managers can understand and plan their watershed restoration efforts and prioritize areas to address.

Please submit your answers to the survey and help spread the word!

Related: the Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently released a finding that additional actions are needed to address FEMA assistance challenges. Based on interviews with officials from 22 state, local, and tribal governments about their experiences with FEMA assistance, the report outlines 6 key recommendations.

Wildfires have increased in size and severity in recent decades and there are more new homes and other buildings in fire-prone areas. The Federal Emergency Management Agency provided over $3.8 billion in wildfire-related assistance in FY 2019-2023. That paid for work such as debris removal and utility repairs but left many gaps in coverage. Challenges with accessing FEMA assistance include delayed help with post-fire erosion control work that could reduce future damages, confusing rules and complex paperwork, and more. Read the full GAO report here.

Winter Pile Burns

The Santa Fe Canyon Preserve pile burn is set to take place on a 12-acre parcel of land owned by The Nature Conservancy once conditions are right. This winter slash pile burn, led by Sam Berry of the Forest Stewards Guild, will complete a 2024 project to reduce wildfire fuels east of the city of Santa Fe. Organizers only made the decision to proceed after months of community meetings and a successful pile burn last winter.

Phase I of the Santa Fe Canyon Preserve pile burn happened without incident in early 2024. Qualified crews lit previously built piles of thinning slash along both slopes and drainages within the preserve and patrolled the area for months afterward to ensure that there were no problems with the fire reigniting or escaping.

“Will Joy, prescribed fire specialist for The Nature Conservancy, said the area, outside the Randall Davey Audubon Center and Sanctuary, is overgrown. The goal, he said, is to reduce fuel for catastrophic wildfires and improve forest health. ‘Healthy forests lend themselves to better water quality, being at the lower end of the Santa Fe watershed,’ Joy said.”

Read more about the Preserve Prescribed Burn, and other prescribed fire news from around the state capitol, in this article from the Santa Fe New Mexican.

In the News

The Growth of Fast Fires

Several recent articles from The San Franciso Chronicle and UC Merced Newsroom have focused on an aspect of fire which, while not often explicitly stated, has played out over and over in the news: a rapid increase in the rate of spread of wildfires as the climate has become hotter and drier over the past two decades. A study published in the journal Science, led by University of Colorado - Boulder, UC Merced, and UCLA scientists, finds a nearly fourfold increase in wildfire growth rates in California since 2001. The research highlights a critical gap in hazard preparedness across the United States: National-level fire risk assessments do not account for fire speed or describe how people and communities can better protect against rapid fire growth events.

Between 2001 and 2020, wildfire growth rates increased by 249% across the Western U.S. — defined as a group of 11 Western states — and 398% in California alone. The fastest fires identified in the study were in grassland-dominated ecosystems, which are abundant throughout California. Sixteen of the 20 fastest-growing fires across the continental U.S. during the study period burned in primarily grassland ecosystems.

This figure from the study, the fastest-growing and most destructive fires in the US (2001 to 2020), illustrates the frequency and intensity of rapid fire growth across the west, especially the Pacific states.

Prior research has found California wildfires are getting larger, but the study authors conclude that speed dictates the severity of fire destruction. Fast-growing fires - defined as wildfires that burn more than 4,003 acres per day - were responsible for nearly 90% of fire-related damages despite being relatively rare in the United States. These “fast fires", which thrust embers into the air ahead of rapidly advancing flames, can ignite homes before emergency responders can intervene. The study shows these fires are getting faster in the Western U.S., increasing the risk for millions of people. "We've been transfixed by so-called megafires because of their massive size, but it turns out that the most destructive fires are ones that grow so fast they can't be stopped," said Professor Crystal Kolden, director of the UC Merced Fire Resilience Center and a co-author of the study. "Fast fires are the ones that destroy homes and lives." (UC Merced, October 28, 2024)

Although scientists don’t yet know if California weather is becoming windier, statewide fall temperatures have increased on average by about 3.1 degrees since 1896, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. This provides greater opportunity for downslope winds to overlap on dry grasses and produce explosive growth rates. Fire risk tends to be further amplified following heat waves and during drought conditions.

Photo courtesy of the City of Santa Monica

Many home insurance companies have pulled out of California for fear of being overwhelmed by claims following damaging wildfires. Several wildfire-prone cities across the state have banned or are considering banning vegetation within 5 feet of homes to reduce fire risk.

The takeaway? These fast fires are causing the majority of home losses and fatalities, highlighting how important it is to increase mitigation activities that we know are effective, such as defensible space and home hardening.

Wildfire Wednesdays #148: New Year, New Network Leadership

Hi FACNM Members and Leaders,

I hope your holiday season is off to a great start. The New Year will be bringing new ideas and new energy into the coordinator role of the Fire Adapted New Mexico learning network.

I am reaching out with the bittersweet news that I will be leaving the Guild and my role as network coordinator for the Fire Adapted New Mexico learning network in the New Year to pursue my dream to practice Spanish and travel in Central and South America. I am incredibly grateful for last 6 years of work with the Guild and the Fire Adapted New Mexico learning network and I have learned so much from all of you. I will continue to reside in Santa Fe, New Mexico upon my return and I look forward to staying in touch in whatever role I take next in my career path of community forestry and wildfire resilience.

We have been working to make this transition as seamless as possible, and still, I know that it may take some time for the program to get back up to speed after the transition. I thank you all in advance for your patience and commitment to the Fire Adapted New Mexico learning network during this time.

I want to give a special thanks to Rachel Bean for her support of the learning network over the years and all of the ideas and energy that she has contributed to making this effort what it is today. I also want to thank Teresa Rigby and the New Mexico BLM for their continued support of FACNM.

Please do not hesitate to reach out to me with any questions or just to say hello at my personal email address or my phone 509-844-3048.

In the spirit of Wildfire Wednesdays, I share some highlights and successes from my time as a coordinator:

It has been a joy to work with you all and I am excited to see the network change and grow with new leadership in the coming years.

Thank you,
Gabe

Wildfire Wednesdays #147: Risks and Solutions for Open Burning

Happy Friday, FAC Community!

We hope that you enjoyed your short week - the newsletter took a brief hiatus for the holiday celebrations as well, so please enjoy this Wildfire Wednesday alternative, Fire Friday!

While walking around the yard recently enjoying clear skies and sunshine on a crisp fall afternoon, my eyes couldn’t help but drift to the garden bed full of frost-killed plants, the side yard covered in tree leaves, and the tall weeds along the driveway. Even on a small residential plot, vegetative yard waste builds up over the course of the year. For folks with many acres, agricultural plots, or those living in the WUI who have to thin and prune trees and bushes, this waste can seem unmanageable. Where do we start, what do we do with all of this organic matter, and how do we stay mindful of our community and wildfire risks and readiness throughout?

This Fire Friday features:

Take care and be well,
Rachel

The Risks of Open Burning

What is open burning?

"Open burning" means the burning of any materials wherein contaminants resulting from combustion are emitted directly into the ambient air without passing through a stack, duct, or chimney. Mobile cooking devices such as manufactured hibachis, charcoal grills, wood smokers, and propane or natural gas devices are not defined as “open burning.” In simple terms, open burning [excepting recreational fires and “backyard burning” (burning of rubbish and other hazardous waste)] refers to burning flammable material, such as agricultural or yard vegetative debris, in an uncontained manner, such as burning fields or piling and burning yard waste. New Mexico’s Open Burn Program regulates open outdoor burning in order to limit pollution, decrease the chance of fire damage to property and injuries.

How do people start fires?

Some common ways that people start fires which can grow rapidly include:

  • Burning Debris - Escaped embers from burning piles of debris or vegetation from yard clean-up can carry for many miles without extinguishing on a windy day. Pay close attention to weather conditions and take caution to burn debris safely. Follow local ordinances and state laws which are designed with prevention criteria.

  • Unattended Campfires – Many people associate camping with happy memories. Keep it that way by not setting up under trees or near houses, and not setting up on a windy day. Take extra care to extinguish the fire completely by pouring water, stirring, pouring more water and stirring until its cold to the back of your hand. 

  • Cigarettes - A single cigarette butt carelessly discarded is all it can take to ignite and destroy thousands of acres of land. As cannabis is legal in New Mexico, it’s also a good idea to maybe just finish that joint. Whatever your preference, stub it out or step it out and throw it in the nearest trashcan.

  • Vehicles – Fires can be started by both driving and parking your vehicle on a hot day. When driving, make sure your tow chains are tight and not dragging on the concrete. When pulling over or parking, avoid dry grass. The heat from your car’s undercarriage can ignite the grass. Only park over gravel, dirt or sand. All vehicles should carry a fire extinguisher.

  • Tools and Equipment – working outside with tools and equipment on a hot, dry, and windy day is one of the leading causes of human wildfire starts in the state. Be careful with chainsaws, circular/portable saws, and even table saws set up over dry grassy areas. Use your equipment’s  spark arrester as designed. A welding blanket or screen can keep sparks contained.. When working outside, keep a fire extinguisher and shovel nearby.

  • Powerlines – Dead or wind-fallen trees on powerlines pose a danger to communities.  Landowners should always make sure to allow utility companies to do their work and thin within utility rights-of-way. 

Keep these in mind as you venture forth into the great outdoors this summer and fall. Take a little time to be smart in your surroundings and remember that New Mexico’s hot and dry conditions can turn small mistakes into huge catastrophes. 

Why is open burning risky?

Open burning has many cultural ties and traditional uses in New Mexico; however, it has been linked both health and wildfire risks.

Smoke impacts: Smoke can cause respiratory issues, reduce visibility, and contribute to health problems for residents. Particle pollution from the burning of organic material can affect everyone, but people with lung disease, including asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), or people with heart disease are the most vulnerable. Particle pollution can trigger asthma attacks, increase symptoms of COPD and cause coughing, wheezing, and chest tightness. For people with heart disease, particle pollution is linked to heart attacks, irregular heartbeat, heart failure, and stroke. This is especially concerning during periods of poor ventilation or when smoke accumulates in populated areas.

Distribution of human-caused ignitions sources by percent of total ignitions.

Fire risk: Wildfires typically start due to a combination of dry vegetation, hot conditions, and an ignition source. Human ignitions, or human started fires that become wildfires, are to blame for ~97% of wildfires that threaten homes in the U.S. and ~84% of all wildfires. Research points to debris and open burning as the origin of around 40% of all human ignitions, the largest single source. With the wrong weather conditions, burning yard debris can be caught in a wind gust, causing the flames to spread to unwanted, unprepared, or highly flammable areas, starting new fires. Insufficiently extinguished fires also pose a fire risk. Smoldering embers can persist in piles or underground for days or longer, appearing “out” only to catch in the wind and start a new fire elsewhere.

Proper administration of open burning, notification of local fire fighting resources, and following all regulations and recommendations are ways that residents of the state can continue to utilize open burning in the safest manner.

How to Burn Safely

View the full program: SM_OBBrochure.pub

The following guidelines are taken from the New Mexico State regulations 20.2.60 NMAC – Open Burning and 20.2.65 NMAC – Smoke Management. The Open Burning Regulations apply if you burn no more than 10 acres or 1,000 cubic feet of piled vegetative material in a day; Smoke Management applies if you plan to burn more than 10 acres or 1,000 cubic feet (if piled) in one day.

Some local resources are listed at the end of this section. Always contact your local fire department or Forestry Division office if you are unsure of the regulations and requirements for open burning in your area.

Best practices

  • Notification: Check your local regulations - some counties and cities require that individuals obtain a burn permit and give advance notification to their local fire department or appropriate firefighting authority before burning. If the burn is larger than 1 acre or 100 cubic feet of piled material, notify neighbors within 1/4 mile. 

  • Time of day: Burn between one hour after sunrise and one hour before sunset. 

  • Distance from neighbors: Maintain a minimum distance of 300 feet from neighbors. 

  • Distance from structures: Generally, no burning is allowed within 50 feet of structure or combustible materials.

  • Hazardous waste: Only burn hazardous waste if authorized by RCRA rules or permits. 

  • Fire extinguishing equipment: Have a charged water source or fire extinguisher readily accessible. 

  • Wind: Generally, winds may not exceed 10 miles per hour. This varies across the state; for example, in Albuquerque, winds must not exceed 15 mph.

  • Burn pile size: Check your local regulations; in Albuquerque, burn piles must be no larger than 3 feet in diameter and 3 feet or less in height, while in Taos, piles may not be larger than 10 x 10 feet with 1,000 cubic feet being burned at any one time.

  • Fire attendance: Continually attend the fire until it is completely extinguished. 

  • Air quality rules: Follow state air quality rules and local ordinances.

Exceptions

  • Open burning of household waste (not including yard waste, weeds, etc.) is prohibited.

  • Recreational and ceremonial burning, campfires, fireplaces, and other types of burning are unrestricted, with one exception: burning of explosive materials that cannot be safely removed are covered by a section on emergency burning.

  • Restrictions on burning issued by fire safety authorities to prevent wildfires will supersede any permission to burn in the Open Burning regulation.

  • All burning of vegetative material has the same requirements, regardless of the purpose or who is doing the burning. This includes small-scale prescribed and agricultural burning as well as burning of yard waste by individual householders.

    • This rule applies to burning of vegetative material when 10 acres or less of non-piled material is burned per day, or when the amount of piled material burned per day is 1,000 cubic feet or less of pile volume.

Regional resources

Visit the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department's (EMNRD) Forestry Division’s website to view current fire restrictions.

Local resources

Santa Fe County open burning pamphlet and terms and conditions/permitting

Albuquerque Open Burning guidelines and Bernalillo County Open Burn Permit

Taos County open burning information

Las Vegas legislation on open burning

San Miguel County Fire Ordinance and Burn Permit

Mora County and Moreno Valley guidelines and permitting

Lincoln County Open Burning Ordinance and additional resources

Doña Ana County Fire Ordinance and Best Practices

McKinley County Fire Ordinance and Burn Permit

Alternatives to Open Burning

Image courtesy of San Jose Environmental Services

An alternative to burning is any method of removing or reducing fuels by mechanical, biological, or chemical treatments that replaces the use of fire. There are many alternatives - chipping, shredding, composting, and other methods all help reduce yard trimmings. Many cities have curbside pickup of green waste, especially if they have a No Burn perimeter. Visiting Earth 911 is a good step to help you find your local options and alternatives for disposal.

  • Chipping/grinding/shredding: Chipped or masticated (shredded) vegetation can be used in mulch or compost. The smaller pieces of organic material break down (decay) more quickly than whole tree limbs or logs, reducing the amount of time during which they pose a fire conduit. As mulch, chips provide moisture retention, temperature moderation and weed control. As compost, the chips return nutrients to the soil. Some communities may offer chipping services, often in the form of Fire Adapted Communities Chipper Days, or allow residents to drop off yard waste for chipping. Chipping is best applied to larger yard waste, such as logs and branches, while grinding (e.g. tub grinder or horizontal grinder) is best for material that may contain dirt or other contaminants such as leaves and root balls.

  • Compost: Composting is a great way to dispose of yard trimmings and food scraps, while creating a natural, free fertilizer. If you have an interest in personal composting, many communities offer weekend classes on how to compost, and some even provide composting bins at a reduced cost or show you how to build your own. Municipal compost centers, or privately-owned centers that partner with local municipalities, may also offer compost pick up or have a listing of locations where green waste is accepted for drop off. Be aware that some facilities which accept food scraps may not accept vegetative waste and vice versa.

  • Mechanical mixing: Plowing and tilling of vegetation left after harvesting in an agricultural field, or application of approved herbicides in conjunction with mechanical removal of vegetation can reduce standing dead vegetation while enriching the soil into which it is mixed.

  • Commercial green waste disposal: Many municipalities offer curbside yard waste pickup services in the late autumn, making disposal convenient. Check local guidelines for timing (typically late November - mid-December) and bagging requirements as yard waste may be required to be placed in biodegradable bags or specific bins for collection. Many municipalities also have Transfer Stations which accept a variety of household waste, including green waste, or dedicated green waste convenience centers. The material obtained by municipalities is typically processed into mulch to be used in city/municipal landscaping or erosion control projects.

  • Livestock grazing: Livestock grazing, something which has gained traction as a fire control alternative in recent years, can be considered a form of green waste disposal when managed properly, as animals (e.g. goats) consume unwanted vegetation, cleaning up the area while simultaneously providing manure that acts as a natural fertilizer, improving soil health and reducing the need for chemical fertilizers. However, overgrazing can have detrimental and unintended impacts, so careful management practices are crucial to utilize grazing as a sustainable waste disposal method.

  • Contained burning: Incinerators, such as air curtain burners, burn vegetative debris in a partially enclosed space with an open top over which a high-speed flow (or ‘curtain’) of air is directed. The result is an almost smokeless burning activity, with nearly complete combustion of all debris. Container burners may be available for rent from your local Soil and Water Conservation District, and more information may be available from your local Forestry Division office.

Funding Opportunities

FACNM Microgrant Funding

FAC NM Microgrants are available to help you fund your community fire preparedness event!

FAC NM Leaders and Members are eligible to apply for grants awards of up to $2,000 to provide financial assistance for:

  • convening wildfire preparedness events,

  • enabling on-the-ground community fire risk mitigation work,

  • developing grant proposals for the sustainable longevity of their Fire Adapted Community endeavor, or

  • other events or efforts related to community wildfire adaptation.

Round 4 of funding is open! Applications will be accepted October 30 - December 15. Successful applicants will be notified of their award by early January 2025. Apply for a microgrant now and/or join the network to be eligible for funding.

Community Wildfire Defense Grants

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service is accepting applications for the Community Wildfire Defense Grant program to assist at-risk communities, including tribes and Alaska Native Corporations, with planning for and mitigating wildfire risks. Now in its third year, this competitive program is funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law as part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America Agenda.

Out of the up to $200 million available, individual grants of up to $250,000 can be used to develop and update community wildfire protection plans, while individual grants of up to $10 million can be used for wildfire resilience projects that implement community wildfire protection plans. Projects must be completed within five years of the award. The number of projects selected will be determined by available funding, which is up to $200 million.

Start your CWDG application journey by visiting the FAC Net Primer on Community Wildfire Defense Grants. Notices of funding opportunities are available on Grants.gov. Applications will be accepted until 11:59 p.m., Eastern Standard Time on February 28, 2025. Applicants are strongly encouraged to develop proposals in consultation with state or Forest Service regional cooperative fire contacts listed in the Notices of Funding Opportunity.

Wildfire Wednesdays #146: Resources for Members and Leaders

Happy Wednesday, FAC NM family!

Today’s short and sweet Wildfire Wednesday focuses on two upcoming opportunities for Network Leaders and Members. As we wind down from wildfire season and transition into reflection and preparation for making our communities more fire prepared in 2025, we invite you to consider taking advantage of these opportunities to connect with others in the Network and to secure funding to kick off or advance your fire readiness work. If you are not yet a Member or Leader but would like to become one to be eligible for these opportunities, please consider joining the network today!

This Wildfire Wednesday features:

Be well,
Rachel

Autumn 2024 Microgrants

Looking to fund your community fire preparedness event?
Apply for a FAC NM Microgrant!

Applications are now open!

Click on the image to learn more about microgrant eligibility, preferred events, and more!

FAC NM Leaders and Members are eligible to apply for grants awards of up to $2,000 to provide financial assistance for:

  • convening wildfire preparedness events,

  • enabling on-the-ground community fire risk mitigation work,

  • developing grant proposals for the sustainable longevity of their Fire Adapted Community endeavor, or

  • other events or efforts related to community wildfire adaptation.

Round 4 of funding is open!

Applications will be accepted October 30 - December 15.
Successful applicants will be notified of their award by early January 2025.

Click the buttons below to apply for a microgrant and/or join the network to be eligible for funding.

Bi-monthly Connection Call

Join us on November 26, 2024!

Are you a Member or Leader within the FAC NM Network? One perk of membership is access to a bi-monthly open floor connection call with other members and leaders throughout New Mexico, held on Zoom and facilitated by a Network Coordinator. These meetings provide a time for members to learn from one another, share what they are working on, ask questions of the Network Coordinator and each other, and dive into specific fire adapted topics and upcoming events. This is a time for networking and learning.

Our next FAC NM bi-monthly members and leaders connection call will be held on Tuesday, November 26, 2024 from 12:00-1:00pm MST. During this call, we will be discussing the microgrants program, including previously funded projects, ideas for the current round of funding, and addressing questions or concerns about applying. We will also have time for a round robin where attendees can share updates, goals, and assistance requests. Come prepared to share!

Please save the date - a calendar invitation will be sent to all Leaders and Members shortly! To receive an invitation to attend the connection call, please join the network now!

In the News

The cost of retrofitting a home for wildfire resistance

Click on the image to download the full report.

“A growing body of research has shown that a new focus on wildfire resistance in the built environment—in our homes, buildings, and other infrastructure—could substantially reduce the risks facing communities in wildfire-prone areas. Many developers are already beginning to incorporate materials and methods into new homes to meet the wildfire challenge without a significant impact on building costs. However, how do we upgrade millions of existing homes that are currently in wildfire-prone areas?

“Headwaters Economics examined the costs for improving the structure and design of existing homes to increase their wildfire resistance... The results are detailed in a report, ‘Retrofitting a Home for Wildfire Resistance,’ and show that some of the most effective strategies to reduce the vulnerability of homes and neighborhoods to wildfire can be done affordably.”

Key takeaways:

  • Simple and effective retrofitting costs between $2,000-$15,000 for actions such as installing flame- and ember-resistant vents, placing metal flashing along a deck, keeping gutters clean, or using noncombustible mulch in the yard.

  • A full retrofit to the highest level of protection could cost nearly $100,000, but in many cases that approach is not necessary.

  • When paired with policy reforms and financing strategies, retrofitting existing homes can make communities safer while avoiding billions in disaster costs; preparing communities before a disaster occurs is the best way to avoid damage to homes and neighborhoods.

Retrofitting assistance in New Mexico

In September, the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department (EMNRD) launched its Home Electrification and Appliance Rebate program.

This initiative, backed by $43 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy, aims to advance clean energy adoption across New Mexico. The Home Electrification and Appliance (HEAR) program offers rebates to help low-income New Mexico residents—homeowners and renters alike—seeking to upgrade their homes with energy-efficient technologies, including insulation, heat pumps, and Energy Star-certified appliances.

Eligible participants can receive up to $14,000 in rebates per household, significantly reducing the financial barrier to making energy-efficiency upgrades.

Wildfire Wednesdays #145: Post-Fire Effects and Lessons Learned

Happy Wednesday, Fire Adapted Community!

This year’s wildfire season will soon come to a close across the west, but that doesn’t mean that the impacts of recent wildfires are no longer a concern. As many people in New Mexico know, the fire itself is just the start of a much longer post-fire recovery journey. Today’s Wildfire Wednesday offers some interesting research on post-fire landscape effects and highlights an ongoing educational webinar series which aims to answer some of the most challenging questions related to post-fire recovery and management.

This Wildfire Wednesday features:

Take care and enjoy these last warm days of autumn,
Rachel

Events

Post-fire webinar series from NWFSC and WA-DNR

Click on the image to access the full webinar series flyer with interactive registration links.

The Northwest Fire Science Consortium and Washington State Department of Natural Resources are hosting an ongoing informational webinar series on post-wildfire recovery featuring speakers and lessons learned from across the West. All webinars take place on Wednesdays through October/November from 12-1pm PT / 1-2pm MT. Presentations will be recorded, so if you miss any in the series you can watch them at a later date on the NWFSC YouTube channel.

Webinar #1: 10/9: RECORDED
Fire Scars on the Landscape: The Science and Management of Debris Flows
Recently burned areas are at increased risk of flooding and debris flows, or rapidly moving landslides. Learn more about the science behind why debris flows happen, and how managers use that science to mitigate these hazards, even ahead of the fire.
Recording: https://youtu.be/qrhYsTCmTW4?si=s5Ms9kpY958ynhZs

Webinar #2: 10/16: RECORDED
Exploring Diverse Community Pathways to Recovery
After a fire, communities have to work together to organize their recovery effort. Local governments and community groups are on the front lines of figuring out what this looks like in their local contexts. A social scientist and a long-term recovery group leader describe the social and organizational processes through which recovery can happen, and how communities may proactively plan for recovery.
Recording: https://youtu.be/oPRQEA27gKs?si=q39cRByMk_uc_tHx

Webinar #3: 10/23: HAPPENING TODAY
Post-Fire Restoration Infrastructure: Adjusting our Systems to New Patterns of Runoff
We reengineer and rebuild after wildfire through a range of treatments, trying to match our built infrastructure to new, amplified patterns of runoff. A national wildfire practitioner speaks to how leaders and policy makers are increasingly recognizing the need to manage the built environment to accommodate these changes, and an environmental engineer shares a powerful story of transformation in the face of repeated wildfire events.
REGISTER: https://tinyurl.com/PostfireRunoff

Webinar #4: 10/30
The Reforestation Pipeline: Ensuring Equitable Access to Replanting
The science behind reforestation is not new, but in a changing climate, new challenges are rising around what to plant, where to plant, and who has access to planting opportunities. Two nonprofit practitioners review the science of reforestation and how we can develop effective governance systems for implementing planting programs that match the scale of fires and fairly meet the needs of the impacted landowners.
REGISTER: https://tinyurl.com/ReplantingPipeline

Webinar #5: 11/6
Recreating and Relating to the Land After Fire
Wildfires reshape recreation access and experiences over the short and long term. A researcher shares emerging science that is revealing how people return to and perceive wildfire-affected landscapes, and a manager shares how they navigate decisions about supporting recreation in these contexts.
REGISTER: https://tinyurl.com/RecreatingPostfire

The REBURN Model

How post-fire landscapes react to and burn under future ignitions

Historically, past fire effects limited future fire growth and severity. These reburn dynamics from cultural and lightning ignitions were central to the ecology of fire in the West. Over millennia, reburns created heterogenous (ecologically and spatially diverse) patchworks of vegetation and flammable fuels that provided avenues and impediments to both 1. the flow of future fires and 2. feedbacks to future fire event sizes and their severity patterns.

These dynamics have been significantly altered after more than a century of settler colonization, fire exclusion, and past forest management, now compounded by rapid climatic warming. Under climate change, the area impacted by large and severe wildfires will likely increase — with further implications for self-regulating properties as described above. An in-depth understanding of the ecology of reburns and their influence on system-level dynamics is necessary to provide a baseline for understanding current and future landscape fire-vegetation interactions.

In a metanalysis by the authors, recovery intervals for forest fuel amount and distribution ranged from 30 to 334 years, indicating that in the context of an active fire regime, it requires nearly two centuries on average to recover pre-fire conditions following the largest fire years.

Conclusions from two 2023 papers (The REBURN model and System-level feedbacks of active fire regimes in large landscapes) found that long periods of fire exclusion during 20th century suppression efforts were unprecedented for relatively frequent fire landscapes, creating large swaths of uncharacteristic decadent mature forest, particularly at higher elevations. The lack of ‘ecological memory’ normally associated with past fires strongly influences subsequent fire behavior and effects, leading to large patches burning with stand replacing fire, followed by generally abundant post-fire regeneration of fast-growing shrubs or conifers. This abundant vegetation and fire-killed tree snags and logs, all of which are readily available to burn, increases the chances of secondary and tertiary severe reburns, with additional implications on carbon storage, emissions, and smoke impacts to surrounding communities.

The biggest takeaway is that unless active fire management is applied to break up forest continuity, future drying trends across the West and the potential for increased lightning activity suggest that burned areas will continue to reburn at mixed - including high - severity, and fire will play an increasingly important role in this synchronized and compositionally simplified landscape as it recovers. A return of prescribed fire or managed wildfire to previously burned areas will start the process of introducing temporal variation and increasing resilience to future wildfires, whereas complete suppression will predispose the landscape to future large and severe wildfires. This means that much of the landmass which is burned and in some stage of post-fire recovery acts as a fire buffer, making it critical for the rest of the forest to remain forest. Burned and recovering vegetation mosaics provide functional stabilizing feedbacks, a kind of metastability, which limit future fire size and severity, even under extreme weather conditions.

Unexpected Post-Fire Effects

Fire scars inform weather and continue to reshape the landscape

In late 2021, William R. Cotton, Professor Emeritus of Meteorology at Colorado State University sat down with The Conversation, an independent collaboration between editors and academics that provides informed news analysis and commentary to the general public. He provided a think piece based on research by himself and his colleague Elizabeth Page on how large fire scars can impact the frequency and severity of post-fire thunderstorms, accelerating the post-fire impacts on the landscape. Read the full article here.

Debris Flow in Cedar Creek near Ruidoso, NM following the 2024 Salt/South Fork Fire Complex. Photo courtesy of the South Fork and Salt Fires Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) team.

“Wildfires burn millions of acres of land every year, leaving changed landscapes that are prone to flooding. Less well known is that these already vulnerable regions can also intensify and in some cases initiate thunderstorms. Wildfire burn scars are often left with little vegetation and with a darker [often hydrophobic] soil surface that tends to repel rather than absorb water. These changes in vegetation and soil properties leave the land more susceptible to flooding and erosion, so less rainfall is necessary to produce a devastating flood and debris flow than in an undisturbed environment.”

What is perhaps more interesting is that research has shown that burn scars can affect the microclimate within and above the scar, “initiating or invigorating thunderstorms, raising the risk both of flooding and of lightning that could spark more fires in surrounding areas”. This happens through several mechanisms:

  1. Surface temperatures and heat flux increase significantly over burn scars due to lack of vegetation, reduced soil moisture, and lower surface albedo – essentially how well it reflects sunlight. When burned soil is darker, it absorbs more energy from the sun.

  2. “The temperature difference can drive air currents, causing convection – the motion of warmer air rising and cooler air sinking. When that rising warm air draws in more humid air from surrounding areas, it can produce cumulonimbus clouds and even thunderstorms that can trigger rain and flooding.” This leads to burn scars enhancing both updraft winds and precipitation from storms developing overhead by ~15%.

“[For] how long burn scars will continue to fuel storms depends on how arid the region is, how quickly vegetation recovers, [and how the local climate and climatic patterns are changed by global warming]. Forecasters, emergency responders and people living in and near wildfire burn scars need to be aware that these areas are at risk for potential major flooding and debris flows and invigorated storms with a potential for heavy precipitation”, oftentimes for years or decades after the fire has burned. This is exemplified by the experience of Santa Clara Pueblo with Santa Clara Canyon, an area hard-hit by the Las Conchas Fire which is still experiencing highly destructive floods nearly 15 years post-fire.

A photo compilation of post-fire flooding impacts to the canyon. Photos were taken in June 2024, 14 years after the Las Conchas Fire. Photos are the property of Santa Clara Pueblo, Office of Govenor: CCF_000027.pdf

An excerpt from the letter from the Office of Govenor to the Santa Clara Pueblo Community describing the June 20. 2024 storm and impacts to the canyon.

4th Southwest Fire Ecology Conference

Register for the opportunity to learn and network this November!

The Southwest Fire Science Consortium, Arizona Wildfire Initiative, and the Association for Fire Ecology are hosting the 4th Southwest Fire Ecology Conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico from November 18-22, 2024. With the conference theme, The Southwest Fire Science Journey: Lessons from the Rearview, New and Unfamiliar Routes, and Promising Horizons, participants and organizers seek to gain a better understanding of the past, present, and future of fire in the Southwest, including the roll of burned landscapes and lessons that can be learned from the post-fire environment and applied to future recovery and protection work. This conference will bring together professionals to share knowledge, exchange ideas, and discuss the latest advancements in fire ecology research and management with a focus on the southwestern United States.  Register now for a unique opportunity to connect with fellow professionals and engage in stimulating discussions that will shape the future of fire ecology in this region.