Hi FAC NM Members,
There are a lot of exciting things on the horizon for FAC NM in 2021. In the wake of the uncharacteristically destructive 2020 wildfire season, we all want to develop the community connections and wildfire mitigation projects that will keep us safe in 2021. To help us make strides towards a community wildfire resilience, help FAC NM identify and recruit community leaders this Fall and Winter! Full details are below.
This Wildfire Wednesdays features:
Information on recruiting or becoming a FAC NM Leader for your community
Why We Must Learn to Live with Fire: An Article by Stephen Pyne
2020 Virtual Wildland Urban Fire Summit Next Week: Join for Free!
Thanks,
Gabe
Becoming a FAC NM Leader
FAC NM Leaders take a greater role in helping their communities improve their fire adaptation. A FAC NM Leader is someone you or your neighbor can look to for advice on what to do to reduce wildfire risk. FAC NM Leaders are the engine of the FAC NM Network. Experience has shown that collaboration is one of the most effective ways to reduce wildfire risk. Sharing resources, whether they be financial, labor, or ideas, helps FAC NM Leaders have an outsized impact in their communities. Collaboration only works if there are active participants. Organizing community chipper days, responding to a question on the FAC NM forum, sharing a success story about a neighborhood firewood removal program are all examples of how FAC NM Leaders can help drive the FAC NM Network.
To help guide FAC NM Leaders through the process of becoming and acting in this important role in their communities, FAC NM members collaborated to create the FAC NM Leader Guidebook. The Guidebook will empower FAC NM Leaders to find solutions and next steps, not necessarily provide them. It provides an overview of a few well-established methods for assessing wildfire risk, identifying community assets, proactively planning for widlfire preparedness, and other useful planning tools. The Guidebook, nor the FAC NM Leader program in general, is meant to replace any already established programs or tools.
How to join the network as a Leader:
In summary, the process to become a FAC NM Leader is:
1. Join the FAC NM Network as a member on https://facnm.org/directory and select that you would like to become a Leader.
2. Complete the short FAC NM Leader form, (click the button below)
3. Connect with a FAC mentor (facilitated by FAC NM staff)
4. Complete the FAC NM Leader Assessment and review with FAC mentor
5. Upload completed FAC NM Leader Assessment to the “FAC NM Leader Assessments” forum category on www.facnm.org.
6. Congratulations, you’re now a FAC NM Leader! Keep up the good work!
Our Burning Planet: Why We Must Learn to Live with Fire
KYLE GRILLOT/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
By suppressing all wildfires and incessantly burning fossil fuels, humans have upset the role that fire has historically played in providing ecological balance. We need to rethink our view of fire and accept its presence by changing how we manage lands and plan our communities.
In his article “Our Burning Planet: Why We Must Learn to Live with Fire,” environmental and fire historian Stephen Pyne describes three important paradoxes:
The more people attempt to take fire out of places that have co-evolved or co-existed with it, the more conditions change that worsen the fire scene.
Despite the expansion of feral flames, so abundantly recorded in global media, the amount of land burned on Earth continues to shrink.
As we ratchet down our binge-burning of lithic landscapes by cutting our use of fossil fuels, we will have to ratchet up our burning of living landscapes.
To read the full article, click here.
2020 Virtual Wildland Urban Fire Summit: Join for Free
Join this informative event, next week.
Fire season is a challenging time let alone during the COVID-19 pandemic. Local governments, state and federal agencies, and nonprofit organizations that have a passion for fire prevention will host a virtual NM Wildland Urban Fire Summit (WUFS) on Thursday, October 22 and Friday October 23, 2020. The event provides a continuous effort among community leaders, fire responders, and government personnel to share the latest techniques, cohesive strategies, and resources for wildfire adaption and economic resiliency, wildfire preparedness, and planning.
Registration is open until the day of the summit at no charge. Registration is available at https://www.nmcounties.org/calendar/.