November 2013: Living with Fire in Northern New Mexico: Fire, Forests and Communities

This was an interactive workshop with regional scientists and land managers, breakout sessions that allowed for open dialogue with participants and presenters, and time for one on one with presenters and others. Topics covered: The ecology of forests and fire of Northern New Mexico Current conditions in our forests and Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) communities …

November 14, 2012: Wildland Fire in Ecosystems: Effects of Fire on Cultural Resources

Presenter: Kevin Ryan This webinar provided an introduction to the new edition of the Rainbow series that provides fire and land management professionals and policy makers with a greater understanding of the value of cultural resource protection and the methods available to evaluate and mitigate risks to cultural resources. Watch the webinar recording.

October 24, 2012: Whitewater-Baldy Complex

We hosted a one day field trip to explore New Mexico’s largest wildfire*, the Whitewater Baldy Complex, that burned 297,845 acres (465 square miles) on the Gila National Forest during the extremely dry and windy spring of 2012. The tour discussed the fire regimes of the fuel types that burned, the interaction of past fires …

September 27, 2012: Track Fire

A one day tour of the Track Fire near Raton, New Mexico. The fire started on June 12, 2012 from ATV Carbon exhaust flakes. It burned New Mexico and Colorado public and private land requiring interstate logistics. Some burned areas received cooperative post-fire watershed rehabilitation treatments from the City of Raton, the states of New …

Buffelgrass: Southern Arizona Fights Back

The ecological and economic threat that buffelgrass poses to the community of Tucson and the surrounding area has sparked an unprecedented level of cooperation among land managers, nonprofits, government at all levels, and representatives from the business community. The Southern Arizona Buffelgrass Coordination Center represents a model of cross-­‐jurisdiction cooperation and community engagement in response to an environmental threat.

Click here for accompanying “Buffelgrass” write up containing more detail.


June 2011: Santa Fe Watershed Forum and Field Trip

A large and diverse group of collaborators has successfully initiated restoration of ponderosa pine forests in the Santa Fe municipal watershed, which provides up to 50% of Santa Fe’s water. Follow-up prescribed fire treatments within sight of the state capital building have been successful in part due to continuing outreach to maintain high levels of …

March 2011: Southwest Interagency Fuels Workshop

Facilitated discussions, presentations, and workshops on restoration and fuels treatments in southwestern vegetation types. Download Agenda/Schedule here Download presentations here: Near Misses…   – Alex Viktora Fuels Management… – Robin Wills

Protecting Old Trees from Prescribed Burning

One of the real problems land managers encounter when they work in areas with old-growth trees is the possibility that prescribed burns—a recommended and useful restoration technique, especially when proceeded by mechanical thinning—may kill or seriously injure these biologically and socially important trees. This tricky situation developed in part because decades of fire suppression have …