The City of Santa Fe and the Forest Stewards Guild are planning a pile burn near the city of Santa Fe beginning on January 16th and continuing as conditions allow until February 1st. This winter pile burn will reduce hazardous fuels and return fire to fire adapted ecosystems. For information view the full press release below.
For information about wildland fire smoke and the HEPA filter loan program, visit the Smoke page.
January 16, 2019 12:00 - 2:00 p.m. MT presented by Dr. Tony Ward
REGISTER HERE! *
Wildfires create significant smoke impacts to communities near and downwind of the wildfire events. This webinar will provide a discussion on ways to prevent wildfire smoke exposures, including both residential strategies (including air filtration units) as well as community strategies (such as clean air shelters). JOIN US!
About the Presenter:Dr. Tony Ward is a Professor and Chair of the School of Public and Community Health Sciences at the University of Montana. He has both a B.S. and M.S. in Environmental Science, and received his Ph.D. in Chemistry. His research focuses on investigating indoor and ambient inhalational exposures (including emissions from wood stoves and smoke from wildland fires).
Brought to you by:
Santa Fe Country recently released a press release for a small prescribed burn planned for 11/27 - 12/7. See below.
Sensitive to smoke? Check out our HEPA filter loan program and rent your HEPA filter for free today!
Top researchers from across disciplines have come together to release a report, A Statement of Common Ground Regarding the Role of Wildfire in Forested Landscapes of the Western United States. The focus of this report is to identify common ground in fire research among scientists and to provide a summary that can inform management. There is “wide agreement among scientists that fire is one of the most essential influences on western forests and more fire is needed on most landscapes, but not all wildfire behavior or extent will do” (Moritz et al. 2018). As a land manager, scientists, or member of the interested public who care about the future of our forests, this report is an extremely important analysis that takes on the identification of common ground in fire science and explores areas of disagreement among researches and why.
In an effort to better understand available fire science, it’s applicability in your region and how to use research to inform land management decisions, the report encourages “scientists who do not share similar perspectives on historical fire regimes in particular ecosystems to engage in civil discourse to better understand the reasons for their disagreement, and to objectively communicate those reasons to managers and other stakeholders” (Moritz et al. 2018).
The full report is available below. This is particularly important for the members of the Greater Santa Fe Fireshed Coalition, the Santa Fe Watershed Association, and New Mexico in general as one of the main authors is Dr. Craig Allen who is a the leading ponderosa pine fire ecologist whose work goes back more than 30 years in the Jemez Mountains. We encourage you to read it, if not just the Executive Summary (pages 2-7).
Reference: Moritz, M.A., C. Topik, C.D. Allen, P.F. Hessburg, P. Morgan, D.C. Odion, T.T. Veblen, and I.M. McCullough. 2018. A Statement of Common Ground Regarding the Role of Wildfire in Forested Landscapes of the Western United States. Fire Research Consensus Working Group Final Report.
The Coalition is releasing a series of briefing papers in 2018 that address foundational knowledge of fire ecology, wildlife and water resources. We have four published papers available to date. Recently published papers include,
Fire History in the Greater Santa Fe Fireshed: Fire scars as a record of fire history
Insect Defoliation in the Fireshed
The Intersection of Bird Habitat and Forest Restoration in the Southwest
Check them out! More briefing papers will be made available in the coming months so be sure to check the briefing paper webpage once in a while.
The GSFFC is a coalition of public and private organizations. The GSFFC is not a subdivision of the State of New Mexico, as defined in the state’s Open Meetings Act, §§ 10-15-1 to 10-15-4 NMSA 1978. Although federal agencies participate in the GSFFC, the Coalition is not a federal advisory board and was not created by a federal agency, as defined by the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), 5.U.S.C. app. 2, §§ 1 to 16 (2012). The GSFFC operates informally to support its partners, and is not incorporated as a non-profit, 501(C)(3), partnership, or other legal status.
