By: Gabe Kohler
FACNM Learning Exchanges Fall 2019
Participants walking into the forest to learn about prescribed fire treatments surrounding Cottonwood Gulch’s Basecamp in Thoreau, NM.
I helped organize two FACNM learning exchanges in northern New Mexico this fall through a partnership between The Forest Stewards Guild, the BLM, New Mexico State Forestry, and New Mexico Counties. One exchange took place in the Western Jemez area at Girl Scouts Camp Rancho del Chaparral and another in the Gallup/ Grants area at Cottonwood Gulch Basecamp in Thoreau, NM. This post is a summary of the takeaways from the Gallup-Grants learning exchange. To read about the Western Jemez learning exchange, click here.
The Gallup-Grants Learning Exchange
Participants learning about the Fire Adapted Communities framework at Cottonwood Gulch Basecamp in Thoreau, NM.
This exchange took place at Cottonwood Gulch Basecamp in Thoreau, New Mexico. The Forest Stewards Guild is deeply involved in a longstanding network of partnerships in the Gallup-Grants area and has partnered with Cottonwood Gulch on fire mitigation projects for almost 20 years. As a new Guild employee, I was excited to continue this partnership by having the Gallup-Grants exchange take place at the Gulch’s Basecamp in Thoreau, NM.
The morning session at the Gallup-Grants exchange ran similar to the Western Jemez exchange. Fifteen participants gathered around a wood stove in Cottonwood Gulch’s new bunkhouse and took part in impromptu networking about the challenges and possible takeaways that they hoped to address throughout the day.
Key Challenges included:
1. Slash removal -- chipping, burning, and fuel wood programs
2. Interagency conflict/coordination on fire response
Communication via radio and lack of interoperability
Volunteer fire departments need incident command training
3. Communication about fire
Use science rather than reinforcing myth (check out this blogpost)
4. Managed wildland fire – Community work changes decision space
5. Small-scale community work
Structure protection
Defensible space
6. Absentee landowners
7. Capturing teachable moments with public
Unified message
Matt Baker-White from Cottonwood Gulch shared his experience cultivating partnerships to leverage resources for fire mitigation on the Gulch’s land.
After the impromptu networking exercise, we asked participants to report some of the challenges that they heard during from others. This report-back generated lots of good discussion amongst the group about the social acceptability of managed wildland fire, interagency communication, the role of volunteer fire departments in the incident command structure of state and federal agencies, information channels for prescribed fire, and communication with the general public about the differences between prescribed fire and wildfire.
After lunch, the group moved outside to see some of the fire mitigation projects on Cottonwood Gulch’s property and on the nearby Forest Service land. Some key takeaways from the afternoon field visits were:
Landowners and representatives of the Timberlake Ranch Fire Mitigation Committee shared that outreach to small private forest owners would be more effective if approached from a wildlife perspective than from a fire mitigation perspective.
Timberlake representatives connected with Tim Kirkpatrick from the New Mexico Prescribed Fire Council about slash disposal and the possibility of pile burning.
Matt Baker-White, the interim Director of Cottonwood Gulch, connected with Todd Haines from New Mexico State Forestry about creating a fire response plan for Cottonwood Gulch’s basecamp.
Matt Baker-White provided valuable feedback to FACNM about recognizing the history of fire use by early Native American and Chicano inhabitants of Northern New Mexico.
Eddie Baca, Fire Management Officer on the nearby Mt. Taylor Ranger District, described to homeowners how the work they do preparing their communities helps the decision space of his incident command team by reducing the risk of ember ignitions and spot fires to people’s homes.
Eddie Baca was able to clear up confusion and misunderstanding about how a recent 2018 wildfire started and spread.
The group saw multiple examples of how prescribed fire can be used, from small ~30 acre treatments on the Gulch’s property, to larger landscape treatments on Forest Service land.
Looking Forward
At the end of the day, the participants of both exchanges swapped contact information and discussed opportunities to work together in the future. By creating a space for participants to learn and openly discuss challenges, these exchange contributed to a shared understanding amongst participants that will strengthen the foundation for future work in these landscapes. I look forward to contributing to the good fire mitigation work that these exchanges shared by working our conversations and connections into project ideas on the landscape.
Acknowledgments
These recent learning exchanges were made possible by the generous support of the BLM New Mexico, New Mexico Counties, the Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network, and the Taos Ski Valley Foundation.