STATE News:
SANTA FE — A private landowner, The Nature Conservancy’s Rio Grande Water Fund and the Forest Stewards Guild plan to take advantage of favorable conditions, including moisture levels, air quality, wind direction, and weather forecasts to burn brush piles in a recently thinned forest on private property north of Jemez Springs.
The pile burning will begin as early as Monday and take several days to complete.
This property is on Ponderosa Drive near an area known locally as “Area 3”. This burn will be implemented by the ‘All Hands All Lands’ Burn Team (Burn Team), which is a fully qualified team designed to lead or support prescribed burns across a variety of land jurisdictions in the Water Fund landscapes of Northern New Mexico and Southern Colorado.
Up to 16 acres of piles will be treated with hand ignitions by trained and qualified firefighters working under a burn boss within the parameters of an approved and permitted burn plan. These actions are part of a private landowner’s commitment to improve forest health, protect water sources from wildfire and erosion, and reduce the risks wildfire poses to communities, forests, and watersheds.
Smoke may be visible due to the proximity of the site to Highway 4. Smoke will likely be visible from Jemez Springs, La Cueva and Sierra de los Pinos. Smoke may settle into lower elevations and drainages overnight but should lift by mid-morning, but lingering smoke may be present for up to one week. The Forest Stewards Guild works closely with the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) and the New Mexico Department of Health (NMDOH) to monitor air quality during and limit the severity of smoke impacts.
This prescribed burn is happening in the context of the Rio Grande Water Fund landscape in partnership with the Jemez Mountains Firewise Communities and the Fire Adapted Communities New Mexico Learning Network (FACNM). FACNM supports a HEPA Filter Loan Program so that smoke sensitive individuals can borrow a filter for the duration of the impacts. More information is here: https://facnm.org/smoke
To find out more and stay up to date, visit https://facnm.org/our-projects/all-hands-all-lands-burn team.
Learn more about Fire Adapted Communities New Mexico Learning Network at www.facnm.org. For more information call/text 505.470.0185.
The Burn Team is supported by an agreement between The Nature Conservancy and USDA Forest Service. The Forest Stewards Guild is an equal opportunity provider.
