Hello Fireshed community!
We hope you stay safe and warm this week with the upcoming storm. While we may not always love the cold and snow, the moisture is great for the forest and creates optimal conditions for safe pile burning, a form of prescribed fire. Make sure to check out (or subscribe!) to the New Mexico Fire Information webpage to learn about upcoming prescribed fires. If you have concerns about smoke from fires near you, visit our Smoke & HEPA Filter Loan Program page to learn about what you can do to remain healthy during times of smoke. There has been a lot going on this season related to fire in New Mexico and we wanted to share with you some important and useful updates!
This Wildfire Wednesday features information on:
Recent prescribed fires in NM
Funding opportunities
Updates to the New Mexico Vegetation Treatment Database
The upcoming Women Owning Woodlands virtual conference
Best,
Liz
Recent prescribed fires in NM
Pacheco Canyon pile burn
Liz Bailey of the Forest Stewards Guild walks away after lighting a pile during the Pacheco Canyon prescribed fire.
From the Forest Service News Release: “The recent prescribed pile burn in Pacheco Canyon on the Santa Fe National Forest (SFNF) 7 miles northeast of Santa Fe was a great example of shared stewardship across ownership boundaries to reduce wildfire risk and protect communities and other assets in the wildland-urban interface (WUI), SFNF Supervisor Debbie Cress said today.
Crews completed a total of 443 acres of piles of slash and woody debris on Forest Service lands and another 111 acres on the Pueblo of Tesuque’s Vigil Grant. The two prescribed pile burns were implemented by the SFNF, Pueblo of Tesuque, Pueblo of Santa Clara, New Mexico Forestry Division, Santa Fe County Fire Department, City of Santa Fe Fire Department and the All-Hands All-Lands Burn Team, a collaboration by Forest Stewards Guild, The Nature Conservancy and Rio Grande Water Fund, with additional support from the Carson National Forest.”
Read more the rest of the press release by clicking here
Coyote Ranger District pile burn
Clip from the Albuquerque Journal’s “A friendly forest fire” article.
Visit this article, “A friendly forest fire” from the Albuquerque Journal to learn more about the pile burns that are happening across the Santa Fe National Forest this winter.
“Forest Service workers as well as others spend much of the spring trimming or cutting down trees and making huge piles of wood. Then, when there is enough snow to prevent a fire from creeping around on the forest floor, they light the piles.”
Funding opportunities
Wildfire Risk Reduction Program for Rural Communities
Background: The New Mexico Association of Counties is pleased to announce the 2022-2023 Wildfire Risk Reduction Program for Rural Communities that assists at-risk communities throughout New Mexico in reducing their risk from wildland fire on non-federal lands.
Grant funding categories include:
CWPP Updates up to $20,000/project
Education and Outreach Activities up to $15,000/project
Hazardous Fuels Reduction Projects up to $75,000/project
Eligibility: Eligible applicants must be a county government or municipality, a 501(c)(3) organization in New Mexico, a statutorily recognized political subdivision such as a Soil & Water Conservation District, or a Native American tribe working on behalf of one or more communities at risk of wildfires in New Mexico.
Deadline: March 7, 2022
AIM Program Grant
Background: This funding opportunity is open to organizations working to advance wildfire risk reduction. The AIM grant is available for a wide variety of capacity-building activities, including personnel, planning efforts and wildfire risk reduction work on non-federal lands. Coalitions and Collaboratives Inc. (COCO) funds organizations across the country with a focus on programs and projects that increase communities’ ability to overcome barriers to successful community wildfire mitigation, multiplies the efforts, achieves quantifiable outcomes, supports equitable and inclusive community wildfire mitigation programs across the fence, and supports place-based solutions.
Eligibility: The organization must have a nonprofit (501c3) status or have a nonprofit or local government fiscal sponsor that may include:
Conservation District
Regional and local collaborative efforts
Fire Safe Councils and/or Wildfire Councils
Non-profit groups that promote hazardous forest fuel reduction treatment projects in partnership with local, state or private entities
Fire departments
Tribes
City or county government
Deadline: February 18, 2022
Updates to the New Mexico Vegetation Treatment database
The New Mexico Vegetation Treatments database has recently been updated with new planned, in progress, and completed projects from USFS, NM State Forestry, NM Shared Stewardship Portal, and Taos Pueblo DNR. The NM Vegetation Treatment geodatabase was created by the New Mexico Forest and Watershed Restoration Institute (NMFWRI) for the Forest and Watershed Health Coordinating Group. If you’re interested in learning about what vegetation treatments have been completed or are upcoming in a certain area and increasing your awareness of efforts to improve forests and watershed in New Mexico, this is a very valuable tool.
Women Owning Woodlands virtual conference
In March 2022, the National Women Owning Woodlands (WOW) Network is hosting a Virtual Conference for women woodland owners, stewards, and enthusiasts. Join women forest stewards from across the country for a conference focused on forging connections between women and forest stewardship. Click here to learn more