Wildfire Wednesdays #82: Southwest Wildfire Awareness Week!

Happy Wednesday Fireshed community!

This week, March 31st - April 2nd, is Southwest Wildfire Awareness Week. This year’s theme is “Don’t Wait for Wildfires to Start, Prepare and Be Aware.”

Historically, New Mexico’s fire danger is highest in the spring, when red flag conditions are common. It is important to be prepared before the onset of red flag conditions and reduce your property’s wildfire risk. Taking steps now to harden your home and create defensible space is the best way to reduce the threat of wildfire to you, your family and your community.

This week’s Wildfire Wednesday features information on:

• Red Flag days

• Meaningful projects that you can complete in as little as 10 minutes

• Home Ignition Zone Webinar: Thursday, March 31st at 2pm

• Upcoming events: Women’s Chainsaw safety workshop

Best,

Gabe

Red Flag Warnings

A Red Flag Warning means warm temperatures, very low humidities, and stronger winds are expected to combine to produce an increased risk of fire danger.  Keep an eye on your local weather or call into your local fire department to learn if a red flag warning is in effect in your area. Follow the National Weather Service’s guidance on red flag days:

 - If you are allowed to burn in your area, all burn barrels must be covered with a weighted metal cover, with holes no larger than 3/4 of an inch.

 - Do not throw cigarettes or matches out of a moving vehicle. They may ignite dry grass on the side of the road and become a wildfire.

 - Extinguish all outdoor fires properly. Drown fires with plenty of water and stir to make sure everything is cold to the touch. Dunk charcoal in water until cold. Do not throw live charcoal on the ground and leave it.

 - Never leave a fire unattended. Sparks or embers can blow into leaves or grass, ignite a fire, and quickly spread.

Improve Fire Outcomes in your Community

Meaningful projects you can complete in as little as 10 minutes

Even small actions can have a big impact on fire outcomes for your home, family and community. Whether you have 10 minutes or 10 hours to dedicate to wildfire preparedness, use that time increase your safety, strengthen community resilience and improve fire outcomes. Not sure where to start? Click here to review this list of project ideas from the national Fire Adapted Communities learning network!

Home Ignition Zone webinar: Tomorrow at 2pm!

Click here to register for Zoom, or tune in live on the FACNM Facebook live page.

In this 60 minute webinar, Megan Fitzgerald-McGowan of the National Fire Protection Association will show you how to prepare your home for fire season. Research has shown that there are simple and easy actions you can take in the areas closest to your home to drastically lessen the chances of it catching fire in a wildfire. Tune-in to learn about the Home Ignition Zones and find out what you can do! Register now to attend the webinar via Zoom, or tune in on the FACNM Facebook live page.

Upcoming Events

Women’s Chainsaw Safety Fundamentals

April 30th - May 1st in Chama, NM

If you don’t typically use a chainsaw, have a healthy fear of them, or are not sure you’re up for handling one, then this course is designed for you! It’s also for women with experience who might like to brush up on safety skills and build extra confidence in a supportive group of fellow female land stewards. The first day will cover most of the content and include hands-on practice, and the second day will provide additional opportunities to build proficiency.

Click here to learn more!

Wildfire Wednesdays #81: Fuel Reduction Treatments

Happy Wednesday Fireshed community!

We hope you’re enjoying the first glimpses of spring and have been taking some time to prepare your home and property for fire season (you can visit our resident resources page to learn what steps you can take now). Forestry and fire science are constantly evolving fields as new research provides insight into best practices and climate change projections. We wanted to share with you some new scientific research that will inform forest management and restoration decisions made in our region.

This week’s Wildfire Wednesday features information on:

• Overview of fuel treatment effectiveness

• Updates on new fuels-reduction research

• Upcoming webinar series of interest: Science You Can Use

Best,

Liz

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Overview of fuel treatment effectiveness

What are fuel reduction treatments?

Photo credit: Deschutes National Forest

A fuel reduction treatment is a carefully selected treatment to “help reduce and rearrange the amount and continuity of fuel within a forest stand and across the landscape”. These treatments can include “thinning, prescribed burning, pruning, and mechanical understory treatments, such as mastication or mowing” and often include a combination of these treatments. These treatments reduce and rearrange surface fuels, increase the vertical and horizontal distance between tree crowns, retain large-trees, and promote fire-adapted forests while retaining wildlife habitat (OSU extension).

What do we know about fuel reduction treatments?

Through both on-the-ground wildfire and modeling, there is a scientific consensus that fuel reduction treatments have the ability to change fire behavior. Certain treatments, such as thinning and leaving behind slash, can actually create more extreme fire behavior, whereas other treatments, like thinning and surface fuels reduction, can moderate fire behavior. A 2016 meta-analysis of 56 studies concluded that thinning followed by burning treatments had positive effects in terms of reducing fire severity, tree mortality, and crown scorch. Fuel reduction treatments are an important component in protecting the wildland urban interface (WUI). Thinning and fuel breaks can modify fire behavior and protect homes and values at risk and also provide a safer environment for firefighters to protect resources. Fuel reduction treatments, and particularly prescribed fires, are critical to combat the increased frequency, size and severity of wildfires that we’ve experienced in recent decades.

This summary was based off the “Fuel treatment effectiveness” memo from the Forest Stewards Guild written by Dr. Zander Evans.

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New fuel-reduction literature

Landscape-scale forest restoration decreases vulnerability to drought mortality under climate change in southwest USA ponderosa forest

“Drought-induced tree mortality is predicted to increase in dry forests across the globe as future projections show hotter, drier climates. This could potentially result in large-scale tree die-offs, changes in species composition, and loss of forest ecosystem services, including carbon storage. While some studies have found that forest stands with greater basal areas (BA) have higher drought mortality, many have not evaluated the extent to which forests restored to lower densities via restoration activities affect drought mortality. The southwestern USA is particularly susceptible to tree mortality due to the predicted increases in temperature, drier soils, and forests with high density.” This paper examined the modeled effect of ponderosa pine mortality in response to a landscape-scale forest restoration project in northern Arizona (Four Forests Restoration Initiative). The results from this paper indicate that forest restoration projects have the potential to mitigate the effects of climate change and subsequent tree mortality.

Highlights:

• Dry western US forests are at risk of large-scale tree die-offs due to hot-drought.

• We modeled forest restoration effects on future ponderosa pine drought mortality.

• Without thinning, mortality will increase 45–57% over current rates by mid-century.

• With thinning, mid-century mortality rates remain near or below contemporary rates.

• Lower tree density can mitigate the effects of climate change on drought mortality.

Effectiveness of fuel treatments at the landscape scale: State of understanding and key research gaps

This literature review synthesized 127 studies related to landscape-scale fueld treatment effectiveness in North American ecosystems. This summary “generally provided evidence that fuel treatments reduced negative outcomes of wildfire and in some cases promoted beneficial wildfire outcomes, although these effects diminished over time following treatment and were influenced by factors such as weather conditions at the time of fire. The simulation studies showed that fuel treatment extent, size, placement, timing, and prescription influenced the degree of effectiveness. Empirical studies, though limited in scope, provided evidence that fuel treatments were effective at reducing the rate of spread, progression, extent, or severity of actual wildfires both within and outside of treated areas. Case studies documented outcomes of specific wildfire events and contained managers’ evaluations of fuel treatment effectiveness. Across the three study types, the importance of treating multiple strata to reduce fuels contributing to fire spread and severity was emphasized. Fuel treatments contributed to fire suppression efforts by reducing costs and facilitating suppression activities such as fireline construction.”

Objectives:

• Evaluate the extent to which landscape fuel treatments:

  • Mitigate adverse effects of wildfire.

  • Provide opportunities to manage fire for beneficial effects of wildfire.

  • Provide opportunities for cost efficient fire suppression strategies and maximize firefighter safety.

  • Provide results to inform future fuel treatment planning.

• Identify research gaps.

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Science You Can Use Spring 2022 Webinar Series

“Join us for the Spring 2022 Science You Can Use webinar series featuring seven land-manager focused webinars presented by Rocky Mountain Research Station scientists and collaborators. These one-hour sessions will begin with concise presentations followed by Q&A and discussion. Webinars will be hosted on Zoom. Recordings will be posted on this page as soon as they are available.”

Upcoming webinars:

• March 30, 10:00 - 11:00 MT

  Recent Megafires Provide a Tipping Point for Desertification of Conifer Ecosystems

• April 6, 10:00 - 11:00 MT

  Accounting for the Benefits of Public Lands

• April 13, 10:00 - 11:00 MT

  Effects of Forest Management and Climate Scenarios on Biodiversity in the Sierra Nevada Mountains

• April 20, 10:00 - 11:00 MT

  Effective Communication about Wildfire Management:  Observations from 20 years of fire social science research

WILDFIRE WEDNESDAYS #80: Home Hazard Assessment

Happy Wednesday fireshed community!

It’s March, and with the warmer weather comes windy and dry conditions that can lead to an early fire season. In Northern New Mexico, some fire restrictions have already been put in place which is a good reminder that wildfire preparedness is year-round. Now is a great time of year to take care of some things around your home and property to prepare for wildfire season, check out the resources below to learn how!

This Wildfire Wednesday features information on:

• Home Hazard Assessment Guide & Worksheet

• Firewise USA Community Wildfire Risk Assessment Tutorial

• "How To Prepare for Wildfire Season in New Mexico 2022“ Webinar Series

• Home Ignition Zone Webinar

Best,

Liz

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Home Hazard Assessment Guide & Worksheet

The prospect of preparing your home for fire season can seem overwhelming, since planning for any disaster means imaging the worst. So, to get started the best thing to do is to create a plan and then begin with the easiest tasks. To assist in making a plan we’d like to present the Home Hazard Assessment Guide. With this guide and the accompanying worksheet you can assess the areas of your home that could use improvement and then keep track as you work to improve them. This short guide covers all the areas that you might be concerned about that might cause your home to ignite. This guide provides homeowners with tools to assess your home's wildfire risk and prioritizes actions you can take to reduce that risk. The assessment worksheet included with this guide is intended to help you understand your risk and where vulnerabilities on your property may lie. Every home is different in terms of wildfire risk and hazards. The goal for this worksheet is not to get a hazard rating of zero, but simply to address certain vulnerabilities that present a wildfire risk to your home. Where you choose to reduce risk on your property is specific to your property's unique features. Start by inquiring with your local fire department about wildfire risk in your area. Your community may have a Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) which will provide you with a CWPP ranking and recommendations for reducing risk in your community.

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Firewise USA Community Wildfire Risk Assessment Tutorial

The Community Wildfire Risk Assessment Tutorial from Firewise provides an overview of the wildfire risk assessment process. You will learn how to evaluate your community’s strengths and vulnerabilities to wildfire as well as use that knowledge to inform your assessment.

Upon completion of this tutorial, you should be able to:

• Identify environmental features that impact ignition resistance in a wildfire

• Using environmental features observations, record findings in the Firewise USA® Community Wildfire Risk Assessment template, and

• Use recorded findings to draft a multi-year action plan to reduce site risk from wildfire

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How To Prepare for Wildfire Season in New Mexico 2022 Webinar Series

Each Thursday in March NMSU Extension Forest and Fire Specialist Doug Cram is presenting the “Learning to Live with Fire: How to Prepare for Wildfire Season in New Mexico 2022” Free Extension Webinar Series.

Schedule:

• March 3rd: Wildfire! You have 5 minutes to evacuate. What should I do?

• March 10th: Proactive steps for individual and family preparedness.

• March 17th: Steps to safeguard your home, yard, and neighborhood.

• March 24th: Farm and ranch considerations

• March 31st: Post-fire response.

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Home Ignition Zone Webinar

In this 60 minute webinar, Megan Fitzgerald-McGowan of the National Fire Protection Association will show you how to prepare your home for fire season. Research has shown that there are simple and easy actions you can take in the areas closest to your home to drastically lessen the chances of it catching fire in a wildfire. Tune-in to learn about the Home Ignition Zones and find out what you can do! Register now to attend the webinar via Zoom, or tune in on the FACNM Facebook live page.

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Wildfire Wednesdays #79: Biochar

Happy Wednesday Fireshed community,

We hope you’re doing well and enjoyed the slightly warmer weather we’ve had across northern New Mexico! Biochar may be a term you’ve heard recently as its use is becoming increasingly popular. Today we’re sharing some background information on biochar as well as some resources for land managers and land owners on how to utilize this resource!

Today’s Wildfire Wednesday features:

• Background on Biochar

• Webinars on biochar topics

• Upcoming biochar workshops

Additionally:

• How to Prepare for Wildfire Season in New Mexico 2022 Free Extension Webinar Series

• Fire & Ice: success story on collaborative prescribed burning

• Hiring announcement: Wildland Coordinator and Wildland Firefighters

Best,
Liz

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Background on Biochar

(Source: University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources)

What is biochar?

“Biochar is a charcoal-like material that is produced from plant materials such as grass, agricultural and forest residues that are decomposed at high temperatures, often during renewable energy production. During the process, the physical and chemical properties of the plant material change into a highly porous, stable, carbon-rich material known as biochar. Recent research suggests it has the potential to be used as a soil conditioner and as a container substrate amendment in agriculture and horticulture, and it may improve several soil and substrate physical, chemical and biological properties. (What is Biochar and How Different Biochars Can Improve Your Crops)”

Uses for biochar:

“The carbon component in biochar is relatively stable, and, hence, biochar was originally proposed as a soil amendment to store carbon in the soil. Biochar has multifunctional values that include the use of it for the following purposes: soil amendment to improve soil health, nutrient and microbial carrier, immobilising agent for remediation of toxic metals and organic contaminants in soil and water, catalyst for industrial applications, porous material for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and odorous compounds, and feed supplement to improve animal health and nutrient intake efficiency and, thus, productivity. (Multifunctional applications of biochar beyond carbon storage)”

Click on any of the resources below to learn more:

• Utah Biomass Resources Group

• Biochar: A Home Gardener’s Primer (Washington State University Extension Fact Sheet)

• What is Biochar? (Regeneration International)

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Webinars on biochar topics

Biochar Workshop Part 1: How to Make Biochar

Watch the whole day of the Biochar Workshop led by Bob Wells, soil scientist Jon Nilsson and Patryk Battle. Learn how to make biochar and its many beneficial uses including greatly enhancing soil life and fertility. Discover innovative ways to maximize its uses for dynamically carbon negative farming and gardening. Visit our website for workshops and many free resources for growing food organically at http://www.livingwebfarms.org

The webinars below come from the Biochar Market Opportunities Webinar Series by Dovetail Partners

Biochar Use in Viticulture:

Biochar has been successfully used in viticulture to boost productivity through improved plant and soil health without negative effects to the grape or wine flavor. Learn about biochar’s potential, including how biochar is being used and can solve problems, during this webinar. Information provided will be applicable for biochar producers, users, practitioners, and investors.

Biochar Use with Livestock and Poultry

This Biochar Use with Livestock and Poultry webinar includes topics on biochar’s potential and how biochar is being used to solve problems. Information provided is applicable for biochar producers, users, practitioners, and investors.

Biochar Use in Stormwater Management

Over the last decade biochar has begun to play an ever-expanding role in managing and decontaminating stormwater. Learn about biochar's potential, including how biochar is being used and can solve problems, during this webinar.

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Upcoming Biochar Workshops

COME LEARN ABOUT BIOCHAR!

“Biochar is an important emerging tool for productively dealing with organic wastes such as thinned woods, giving land stewards additional options for mitigating fire risk. Additionally, biochar can be used as an organic amendment that can help build productivity and is aligned with the healthy soil principles according to the NRCS.

In this workshop, attendees will *ideally* watch and participate in a biochar kiln burn led by Preston Englant. Weather conditions the day of the workshop will determine if a burn is possible, but attendees will participate in the preparation of a biochar kiln and review safety precautions and process either way. A good resource on biochar is Kelpie Wilson’s YouTube channel.

Workshop attendees will be provided with a workbook of instructions and considerations for making biochar in the southwest, and may have access to biochar kilns to borrow through the Quivira Coalition for conducting their own burns. Our hope is to establish a network of technical service providers who can supervise burns in New Mexico. This workshop is free to attend. Please bring your lunch. There will be some snacks and extra water.”

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How to Prepare for Wildfire Season in New Mexico 2022 Free Extension Webinar Series

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Fire & Ice: success story on collaborative prescribed burning

“While schools and government offices closed due to the snow, a fire crew saw a perfect opportunity to eliminate hazardous fuels. The Forest Stewards Guild on Wednesday led a team to burn hundreds of piles on Glorieta Adventure Camp’s property to minimize the potential for high-severity fire events.

(Source: William Melhado)

Dangerous and unhealthy fires—the consequence of suppression efforts by the Forest Service up until the 1970s—pose a threat to communities and ecosystems given the buildup of hazardous fuels and dense landscapes, advocates of controlled burns say. Along with forest thinning, prescribed burns reduce the danger communities face in the event of a large fire, which would pollute water sources and significantly disrupt the ecosystem.”

While the Forest Service can burn on private land, it’s easier for organizations like the Forest Stewards Guild to coordinate prescribed burns with landowners, explains Gabe Kohler, southwest program manager. ‘We use our crew to get some of those private land chunks done, but we also try and use it to demystify fire,’ Kohler tells SFR. Through hands-on training and a youth program, Kohler hopes to ‘get folks out here and show people, ‘You can do this.’ A private landowner could, with 10 guys, come out here and do a lot of good stuff,’ he says.”

Click here to read the full story from the Santa Fe Reporter

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Hiring announcement: Wildland Coordinator and Wildland Firefighters

From the Angel Fire Fire Department:

We are hiring!  Seeking an experienced Wildland Coordinator and an additional 3 Wildland Firefighters.  Please see attached job descriptions.  Hourly rate dependent on experience and training.

The Wildland Coordinator can be full time or part-time (subject to the candidate/experience), and the wildland firefighters can go to work immediately doing slash burning until the fire season begins.  We do intend to be deployable in and out of state in 2022.

For more information please contact Chief Henson directly @ khenson@angelfirenm.gov.

Wildfire Wednesdays #78: New Mexico Fire Round-Up

Hello Fireshed community!

We hope you stay safe and warm this week with the upcoming storm. While we may not always love the cold and snow, the moisture is great for the forest and creates optimal conditions for safe pile burning, a form of prescribed fire. Make sure to check out (or subscribe!) to the New Mexico Fire Information webpage to learn about upcoming prescribed fires. If you have concerns about smoke from fires near you, visit our Smoke & HEPA Filter Loan Program page to learn about what you can do to remain healthy during times of smoke. There has been a lot going on this season related to fire in New Mexico and we wanted to share with you some important and useful updates!

This Wildfire Wednesday features information on:

• Recent prescribed fires in NM

• Funding opportunities

• Updates to the New Mexico Vegetation Treatment Database

• The upcoming Women Owning Woodlands virtual conference

Best,

Liz

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Recent prescribed fires in NM

Pacheco Canyon pile burn

Liz Bailey of the Forest Stewards Guild walks away after lighting a pile during the Pacheco Canyon prescribed fire.

From the Forest Service News Release: “The recent prescribed pile burn in Pacheco Canyon on the Santa Fe National Forest (SFNF) 7 miles northeast of Santa Fe was a great example of shared stewardship across ownership boundaries to reduce wildfire risk and protect communities and other assets in the wildland-urban interface (WUI), SFNF Supervisor Debbie Cress said today.

Crews completed a total of 443 acres of piles of slash and woody debris on Forest Service lands and another 111 acres on the Pueblo of Tesuque’s Vigil Grant. The two prescribed pile burns were implemented by the SFNF, Pueblo of Tesuque, Pueblo of Santa Clara, New Mexico Forestry Division, Santa Fe County Fire Department, City of Santa Fe Fire Department and the All-Hands All-Lands Burn Team, a collaboration by Forest Stewards Guild, The Nature Conservancy and Rio Grande Water Fund, with additional support from the Carson National Forest.”

Read more the rest of the press release by clicking here

Coyote Ranger District pile burn

Clip from the Albuquerque Journal’s “A friendly forest fire” article.

Visit this article, “A friendly forest fire” from the Albuquerque Journal to learn more about the pile burns that are happening across the Santa Fe National Forest this winter.

“Forest Service workers as well as others spend much of the spring trimming or cutting down trees and making huge piles of wood. Then, when there is enough snow to prevent a fire from creeping around on the forest floor, they light the piles.”

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Funding opportunities

Wildfire Risk Reduction Program for Rural Communities

Background: The New Mexico Association of Counties is pleased to announce the 2022-2023 Wildfire Risk Reduction Program for Rural Communities that assists at-risk communities throughout New Mexico in reducing their risk from wildland fire on non-federal lands.

Grant funding categories include:

• CWPP Updates up to $20,000/project

• Education and Outreach Activities up to $15,000/project

• Hazardous Fuels Reduction Projects up to $75,000/project

Eligibility: Eligible applicants must be a county government or municipality, a 501(c)(3) organization in New Mexico, a statutorily recognized political subdivision such as a Soil & Water Conservation District, or a Native American tribe working on behalf of one or more communities at risk of wildfires in New Mexico.

Deadline: March 7, 2022

AIM Program Grant

Background: This funding opportunity is open to organizations working to advance wildfire risk reduction. The AIM grant is available for a wide variety of capacity-building activities, including personnel, planning efforts and wildfire risk reduction work on non-federal lands. Coalitions and Collaboratives Inc. (COCO) funds organizations across the country with a focus on programs and projects that increase communities’ ability to overcome barriers to successful community wildfire mitigation, multiplies the efforts, achieves quantifiable outcomes, supports equitable and inclusive community wildfire mitigation programs across the fence, and supports place-based solutions.

Eligibility: The organization must have a nonprofit (501c3) status or have a nonprofit or local government fiscal sponsor that may include:

• Conservation District

• Regional and local collaborative efforts

• Fire Safe Councils and/or Wildfire Councils

• Non-profit groups that promote hazardous forest fuel reduction treatment projects in partnership with local, state or private entities

• Fire departments

• Tribes

• City or county government

Deadline: February 18, 2022

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Updates to the New Mexico Vegetation Treatment database

The New Mexico Vegetation Treatments database has recently been updated with new planned, in progress, and completed projects from USFS, NM State Forestry, NM Shared Stewardship Portal, and Taos Pueblo DNR. The NM Vegetation Treatment geodatabase was created by the New Mexico Forest and Watershed Restoration Institute (NMFWRI) for the Forest and Watershed Health Coordinating Group. If you’re interested in learning about what vegetation treatments have been completed or are upcoming in a certain area and increasing your awareness of efforts to improve forests and watershed in New Mexico, this is a very valuable tool.

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Women Owning Woodlands virtual conference

In March 2022, the National Women Owning Woodlands (WOW) Network is hosting a Virtual Conference for women woodland owners, stewards, and enthusiasts. Join women forest stewards from across the country for a conference focused on forging connections between women and forest stewardship. Click here to learn more