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New Mexico launches statewide restoration plan
APRIL REESE, LAND LETTER 4/07/05
SANTA FE, N.M. -- Efforts to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire and restore watersheds in New Mexico received a boost last week, when Gov. Bill Richardson (D) signed off on a plan state officials hope will accelerate thinning and restoration projects.
The plan -- the result of a year of discussions among federal, state and tribal officials, environmental groups, local soil and water conservation districts and other interests -- aims to improve coordination among various governmental agencies and provide greater support for projects designed to thin thousands of acres of "doghair thickets" -- dense stands of small-diameter trees that thrived under a century of fire suppression. Like other Western states, New Mexico has suffered the ravages of catastrophic wildfires, most notably the Cerro Grande Fire of 2000, which burned 43,000 acres and destroyed several homes in Los Alamos.
But the plan looks beyond overgrown forest stands, recognizing the need to restore the watersheds they lie within, including riparian areas and grasslands. The plan's integration of wildfire reduction and watershed health sets it apart from other state plans, which primarily focus on removing fuels.
The New Mexico Forest and Watershed Health Plan calls for creating a new state office to coordinate interagency fuel treatment and watershed restoration efforts and help funnel available resources to on-the-ground projects. It also establishes an oversight committee and encourages the expansion of the biomass industry and other wood product businesses to increase demand for small-diameter trees.
"This is one of the first state plans to broaden collaboration by linking fire reduction, improvement of watersheds, biomass development and environmental protection in addressing forest and watershed health issues," said Joanna Prukop, secretary of the state Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department. "It is my hope that it will serve as a useful model for other states engaged in ecological restoration planning and implementation, and that it will help to foster new and more effective state-to-state collaboration on these issues that are so vital to the West."
While governments at all levels, nonprofit groups and private landowners are undertaking thinning and restoration projects, there has been little collaboration among them, resulting in a sporadic approach for addressing forest health issues in the state, said Dan Ware, a spokesman for the New Mexico Forestry Division.
The plan, which draws on input from about 400 experts and members of the public, sets forth 20 "action items," including increasing coordination among agencies and enhancing state support of project efforts.
Ware said the plan demonstrates that diverse interests across the state, from government officials to tribes to private landowners, are committed to getting New Mexico's forests and watersheds back in shape.
"I think that this plan shows that middle ground can be found" in the debate over forest management, he said. "And it shows that each side realizes that our forests and our watersheds are in bad shape. If we don't do something -- and do it the right way -- we're going to be in real trouble when it comes to catastrophic fires."
Bryan Bird of Santa Fe, N.M.-based Forest Guardians, offered cautious praise for the plan.
"I think the plan is fairly good as long as it adheres to what's stated about collaboration," he said, referring to the document's directive to set up an oversight committee to ensure effective implementation of the plan. "If it truly represents all interests, it will be a powerful tool to make sure forest restoration does no harm."
Forest thinning projects can damage ecosystems if they are not carefully planned, he said.
Sherry Barrow, who runs a small business in Ruidoso, N.M., that uses small diameter trees to make wood shavings for animal bedding and to generate heat to run the operation, said the plan will help bridge the gap between supply and demand. Currently, contracts for removing small-diameter trees are "sporadic, small and intermittent," she said. With greater coordination among agencies, multiple projects can be focused in a particular area, providing longer-term contracts and a more steady supply of wood, Barrow said, which would help encourage more people to start businesses that use small-diameter trees.
"I think that one of the big barriers we have right now is we don't have seamless contracts for the work," said Barrow, who was part of the planning committee that crafted the document at the request of Gov. Richardson and the state Legislature. "If we have that, the cost of the work can come down."
Laura McCarthy, a forest policy specialist with a Santa Fe-based foresters organization called the Forest Guild, is "excited" about the plan even though all the details have yet to be fleshed out.
"There are some actions that are implementable right away, and some that are a plan to do more planning," said McCarthy, who also served on the planning committee. "But that's more of a reflection on the fact that there isn't consensus on what to do yet, or not enough information."
One lingering question is whether the state will commit new funding sources to enhance fuel treatments and watershed restoration. A greater financial investment in the health of the state's forests is essential, Bird said.
"We need both the state and federal government to really cough up the funds to make sure the projects get done," he said, adding that relying on wood product businesses to purchase the small trees that are removed during thinning projects is not enough. "Nothing's going to happen unless it's funded up front."
But Barrow said the plan provides an important framework that will soon lead to better forest health -- and a decreased risk of catastrophic fire.
"This plan is not a magic wand," Barrow said. "We still have a lot of work to do. But we're much closer to being able to implement these things now than we would have been if we hadn't done this."
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