Hello and happy September FACNM community!
Announcement kick-off: Wildfire Wednesdays is changing to become a bi-monthly post. We remain committed to bringing you useful and pertinent information and resources in this shift. Please continue to share widely!
Today we have a guest writer, Rachel Bean, who is a project coordinator with the Forest Stewards Guild. Rachel will be diving into the connection between forest health, wildfire resiliency, and the water which fuels our community. Continue reading to learn more about source water and its relationship with wildfire preparedness. You can also check out the newly launched Greater Santa Fe Fireshed Coalition source water webpage here where you will find useful links, videos, and opportunities to get involved with watershed health and protection in your community.
This Wildfire Wednesday features information on:
Watersheds and forest health
The connection between fire resiliency and source water
Treatments that protect water
The “Local Communities Adapting to Fire” webpage from TNC featuring the Santa Fe fireshed
Watersheds and Forest Health
Image Credit: Delaware County Conservation District
Forested ecosystems play a big role in supplying water for drinking and agriculture, from rural houses to small towns to large cities. They capture and retain snow in the winter at high elevation. This snow melts in the spring to feed streams and rivers, called surface runoff, flowing into our communities. They also act as a sponge, absorbing snow and rainwater into their soils to recharge wells, aquifers, and to feed acequias. Much of the water which comes out of the forests is stored in man-made reservoirs where it is treated for contaminants and transported into the municipal waterways, straight to your kitchen tap. From the highest peaks collecting snow to the mouth of the canyon where the reservoirs sit, these geographic areas which capture and supply water are called watersheds. The natural processes which take place in forested ecosystems provide the cleanest, cheapest, and most renewable form of drinking water in the southwest.
Fire Resilient Forests
An intact forest absorbs more water in its soils, holds more snow in the winter, and leads to a consistent source of potable water for communities. When a forest becomes overcrowded with trees and brush, the vegetation uptakes more water from the soil. The trees begin to compete for resources and may become water-stressed, making them more vulnerable to pests and disease. Overcrowded and stressed forests are also more vulnerable to wildfire, with a thick closed canopy which fuels the fire and allows flames to move quickly across the landscape. When a forest burns hot and fast it can no longer serve as that absorbent sponge – there are no trees to filter the rainwater, no vegetation to insulate and hold the snowpack, and the scorched soil becomes hydrophobic and unable to soak up water. In order to protect our rivers and drinking water, it is essential that we ensure ecological integrity and long-term resiliency of our forests.
Protecting the Water
As climate change reduces the reliable arrival of snow and rainfall and a growing population increases the demand for water, protecting our source water and the watersheds which supply it is critically important to New Mexico. Forest thinning projects, prescribed burns and wildfires managed for resource objectives, and community protection projects all play a role in increasing forest resilience to pests, disease, and wildfire. These treatments can create a natural and functional forest structure while stimulating grasses and shrubs. Plants stabilize the soil, reducing surface runoff and increasing water quality. Treated areas also burn at lower severity and are less likely to experience flooding and debris flows following a wildfire. Like a wise retirement investment, proactive protection of our source water ensures a vibrant and sustainable future. Learn more about watershed health and the projects taking place in your community to protect it!
Local Communities Adapting to Fire
Photo credit: Christi Bode
From The Nature Conservancy’s Land and Water Stories is a new webpage, “Local Communities Adapting to Fire”. This page features several communities that are working towards becoming more fire adapted, including one of our local firesheds in Northern New Mexico, the Santa Fe Fireshed! Click here to visit The Nature Conservancy’s “Local Communities Adapting to Fire” page