Pam Ryan and her family live just outside of Santa Fe where the pinon juniper begins to transition to ponderosa forest. Pam has always had a keen eye for the natural world and it interconnected systems and patterns, so after they moved to their new southwest community from the Midwest it was exciting to have the chance to learn about the new ecosystem here and how water and fire can have subtle or dramatic interactions to change the landscape.
In the Midwest, floods had been the main hazard to worry about, so when Pam found an abandoned stack of literature about wildfires in her new home it was a bit of a revelation.
“Learning that the area hadn’t burned in 100 years was a red flag for me. The longer I am here the more I began to learn the language of the land, and decipher disturbances and what it’s has endured that’s caused it to end up in the condition it’s in now.”
For Pam fire ecology and community fire adaptation go hand in hand. One piece of literature in the stack was about preparing your home for wildfire and introduced the terms “ladder fuels” and “defensible space”. Along with her new understanding of the land, Pam began to see ladder fuels in undesirable places around her home. This led her to invite the local Volunteer Fire Department (VFD) to come out to her home and make recommendations about how she could make her home less ignitable.
“After carefully walking around the property with a clip board and check list, he recommended some specific things we could do. Yes, some things like the removal of tree limbs hanging over the house would require a chain saw, but the suggestions also included things like not storing a large pile of fire wood up against the house or under a portal and clearing dry leaves from the corners of our flat roof. Basically, they got me thinking like a fire--looking for anything that would provide fuel to an ember or flame within 30 feet of the house. “
Since her visit with the VFD, Pam has been engaging in projects big and small, and as the work progressed she began to think about the rest of her neighbors along her one-way-in-one-way-out road. She began clearing massive amounts of dead and flammable willow from her property that were right next to the road (and potential escape route) that all her neighbors shared. This simple activity made the road more passible in a fire, but also gave Pam a chance to be down on the road and chat with her neighbors as they drove by.
Eventually, Pam joined the brand new Fireshed Ambassador Program in 2018, which seeks to link people across the Santa Fe area that are all working in their own neighborhoods.
Pam with a pile of brush cleared from her neighborhood.
“Any ambassador will bring their personality to it. Some people feel comfortable going door to door, but I’m happy to hang out on road with shears and when somebody comes by have an in depth chat and feel them out. Every ambassador has been effective in their own way, and it’s an individual thing about how people get the work done.”
Communication with her neighbors has been slow and others are more receptive and proactive than others, but Pam is building momentum in her neighborhood. Just before the pandemic her and another neighbor were organizing a Community Wildfire Preparedness Day event -- a slash disposal day where a shuttle truck would be available to take fuel from peoples mitigation efforts to the Transfer Station. Although the recent closure of the Transfer Station due to Covid-19 has made them postpone the event, Pam says she is not letting go of the idea.
Pam finds the process of being an ambassador rewarding in the simple ways she can open people’s eyes and get them thinking about fire mitigation, from her roadside chats or conversations with friends and acquaintances. For Pam, her self-appointed job of Fireshed ambassador relates to her uncle’s experience as a Chicago firefighter, who found joy in the opportunity to help people and serve his community. Thankfully, the job of a Fireshed ambassador is much less hazardous, but the satisfaction of helping people by organizing and fielding questions is similar.
““You want to put the welcome mat out for firefighters not the wildfire, and that welcome mat is the 30 foot perimeter. People respond to that idea and it’s rewarding to be able to open their eyes.” ”
Pam’s spring wildfire cleaning tip
“We adapt to changes around our home pretty quickly. With cleaning for fire season you have to get small and zoom in to notice where there could be problems, it’s easy to overlook these areas but they could be a big deal if an ember ignites them.
For example, under the canales on my house there are rocks to break up the water hitting the ground. These become a trap for needles and leaves that get wedged in the rocks right next to your house. If you have one tree on your property you’ll find similar places around your house. It’s important to take a walk around your home and take notice of where the remnants of Fall have stuck, such as in corners or where stairs meet a portal.”