Public Lands S.O.S.

The hot summer season will doubtless herald another flurry of media attention on the perennial wildfire scourge. Certainly part of the natural cycle of things, there's also a vexing human element thrown into the yearly wildfire equation, especially in burgeoning towns like Santa Fe, where suburban sprawl brings people closer to wildfire zones and water demands drain local aquifers and parch the soil. Throw in, too, the bugbears of arson and poorly extinguished backcountry fires, and you have a tinderbox of problems waiting to ignite.

Barely out of winter, forest officials and fire departments across New Mexico are already preparing for the upcoming fire season. Though the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Association's (NOAA) climate center says drought conditions this year should be about average across the country, even improving in some parts, danger levels in New Mexico and Arizona will continue to be high. Last summer, several fires cropped up in the Santa Fe National Forest and in the nearby Pecos Wilderness, both located north of Santa Fe, causing the closure of some areas of forest and the evacuation of nearby homes.

These forest and wilderness areas consist of high desert and montane forests of ponderosa pines and aspens. Residents of Santa Fe, Española, and Los Alamos take backcountry treks along an extensive trail system to visit pristine alpine meadows and crystal-clear lakes, or bag nearby peaks such as Santa Fe Baldy or Mount Wheeler—the highest peak in New Mexico at 13,161 feet. Nearby mesas and rock walls are rife with sport and trad climbing.

Last year, it took 200 wildland firefighters more than a month to contain a 7,000-acre blaze—the largest that summer—deep in the woods of the Pecos Wilderness. Fire crews struggled to reach blazes started by lightning strikes in remote areas of the forest, having to hike while lugging all of their fire-fighting equipment.

This year could be just as bad. After five years of dry seasons, NOAA officials predict that reservoir levels will remain below average, as dried-out soils soak up snow-pack runoff. Unseasonably warm early spring conditions have led to early snowmelts, which could mean more water lost to precipitation than usual. As of mid-March, NOAA listed drought conditions north of Santa Fe as severe and exceptional. Thankfully, the region got a small amount of wet weather, which allowed Forest Service officials to light a number of prescribed burns of wildfire fuel like dead trees and organic debris. Still, a wind-heavy spring could lead to an early start of the fire season.

On March 5, the Federal Emergency Management Agency granted over $385,000 in funds to four New Mexico fire departments, including $62,000 to the fire department in the town of Angel Fire, located an hour north of Santa Fe. The funds will be used for both fire prevention and education, with local officials warning residents and visitors to closely monitor any fires that do break out and not to burn brush during windy parts of the day.