As the year ends we’d like to share a story from 2019 about the connection between building fire-adapted communities and restoring fire-adapted forests. We hope to hear more stories like this one from you about fire adaption in action in 2020. If you’d like to share your story contact us at gabe@forestguild.org.
Happy New Year from Fire Adapted New Mexico!
By Collin Haffey, Angie Krall, Jeremy Marshall, and Eytan Krasilovsky
Effects after the Francisquito Fire. photo by Jeremy Marshall
July 2019 saw two lightning started wildfires safely play their ecological role in the Tusas Mountains north of El Rito, New Mexico. These public lands managed by the Carson National Forest (Carson NF) are important to many communities in the area for grazing, firewood, hunting, fishing, recreation, and other needs. Having the right type of fire, in the right place and time is not an easy feat and isn’t happening as frequently as is needed to overcome the fire deficit in New Mexico and the West. This 2,021 acres of “good fire” on the El Rito District are the result of long-term planning and coordination among multiple groups.
New Mexico’s fire adapted dry forests need frequent low intensity fire to survive and thrive. Without it they become unnaturally dense and prone to high intensity fire, insects, and drought. Fire is also the building block for biodiversity by releasing seeds in the soil to establish the plants that are the foundation for pollinators, insects, and birds.
Smoke rises from the Alamosa Prescribed fire that was collaboratively implemented. photo by Sam Berry
The Francisquito and Rincon Fires were successful due to several factors that date back years. The Carson National Forest’s strategic planning for selective thinning and prescribed fire set the stage for a landscape with active ecologically based management. These projects were collaboratively managed including the Alamosa Prescribed Fire, the most recent prescribed burn. For that burn, the Carson National Forest worked with the recently formed All Hands All Lands Burn Team to provide roughly 50% of the fire resources. The Burn Team is a project of the Forest Stewards Guild and The Rio Grande Water Fund that leads burns when needed and supports existing burns with qualified firefighters and resources. The Alamosa Prescribed fire, completed in the fall of 2018, provided a “catcher’s mitt” on the east side of the Francisquito and Rincon fires that helped make the case for a safe and effective managed wildfire with a buffer to the east (See Map).
Map of the Francisquito and Rincon Fires from early in the fire’s development. The red area is the planning area for the managed wildfires and the green is the area the Forest Service was focused on returning fire to. The yellow and orange areas are previous prescribed fires. The red hashmakred areas are where thinning has been accomplished. Prescribed fires and thinning border the fire on nearly 2/3 thirds of it’s perimeter.
The Carson NF also took a community-based approach to communication about the fire events. Prior to the Alamosa Prescribed burn last fall, the village of Vallecitos had some negative experience with a managed wildfire that occurred in 2017. The Bonita Fire near Cañon Plaza did result in some minimal high severity effects. Unfortunately, sediment run-off from the burn scar during the monsoon season effected the village drinking water system which led to some distrust in managed fires. To bridge the gap, Carson NF staff initiated community meetings in the Village of Vallecitos; one around the kitchen table with coffee and banana bread with the most concerned of the neighbors, and one later in the form of a more formal presentation at the community center. Staff made an extra effort to engage community members to learn more about fire ecology and share the critical understanding that good fires prevent the bad ones. In this case, on the public lands in their backyards. Local stakeholders were invited to the morning briefings of the Alamosa Prescribed Burn. This was a great opportunity for community members to see the organization, preparedness, safety and medivac plan, along with tactics being used to safely implement the burn along their backyards and watershed. The extra effort paid off with buy-in from the community for the prescribed burn operations and stronger understanding and relationships that will serve us all in the future.
Just prior to the Alamosa prescribed fire, the Burn Team brought a small cache of HEPA air purifiers to loan out to smoke sensitive individuals. These devices filter out the smoke particulates that are unhealthy and can put stress on those with respiratory conditions. During the first day of the burn, community members alerted the individuals monitoring fire effects, who were in Vallecitos documenting the smoke, which they knew of some smoke sensitive individuals. The Burn Team worked with leadership from the El Rito Ranger District to deliver the filters to the households who requested them. In 2019 the Forest Stewards Guild expanded the filter loan program for the Fire Adapted Communities New Mexico Learning Network (facnm.org), and it was natural for a cache of HEPA filter to be permanently located at the El Rito Ranger Station.
Before any proposed managed fire, the Forest Agency Administrators (District Rangers/Line officers) reach out to internal staff about possible values at risk in proposed focal areas (archaeology/wildlife), to permittees with cattle in the area, New Mexico State Forestry about nearby private land concerns, effected counties and New Mexico Game and Fish. Congressional staffers are also notified. It is critical for the decision makers to understand and balance the risk to fire fighter safety and impacts to resources with the intended benefit.
Morning Briefing at the Incident Command Post in El Rito. photo by Jeremy Marshall
For the Francisquito/Rincon, the Type III Team organized a community meeting in El Rito, NM at the senior center and enlisted a team of public information officers to spread the word about our intentions for the managed wildfire. Permittees gave an enthusiastic thumbs up as they are fully aware of the benefits to their interests of increased forage opportunities for their livestock. The El Rito Campus of Northern New Mexico College proved a perfect location for Incident Command Post (ICP) for the Francisquito/Rincon managed fires; providing welcome “rent” income to the college during the summer months. The fire also employed a local range permittee who is a certified dozer operator that created line and improved roads for safe and effective firefighter operations. When the managers of the Francisquito and Rincon Fires reached out to the communities early in the fires, the HEPA filters were locally placed and ready to support those sensitive to smoke.
Looking back at what could be learned from these fires, it became clear that active ecologically based management like prescribed fire in ponderosa pine creates enabling conditions to manage lightning caused fires responsibly. It was also apparent that robust community communications are important, including inviting cooperators and the public to morning briefings and working closely with grazing permittees. Working together, year-round, season after season, we can create resilient landscapes and fire adapted communities.
photo by Jeremy Marshall