Forest Service plan near Santa Fe paused as agency reviews burn policy

Aug. 3—A U.S. Forest Service plan intended to lessen wildfire risks and bolster biodiversity in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains near Santa Fe is being paused, and a finding of no significant impact has been temporarily withdrawn.

The agency is putting the Santa Fe Mountains Landscape Resiliency Project on hold, partly so the teams involved in the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire and its aftermath can regroup and also to respect the Forest Service chief's 90-day review of prescribed burn policies.

Prescribed burns and mechanical thinning are key in the plan aimed at reducing the risk of catastrophic fires on a 50,500-acre expanse near the Santa Fe Municipal Watershed. The plan outlines using those methods and, to a lesser degree, spraying herbicides, planting native trees and building livestock fences on 38,600 acres of forest lands.

Two prescribed burns that went astray later combined into the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire, the largest blaze in New Mexico history, scorching more than 341,000 acres and calling into question whether the agency's approach to planned burns is outdated amid a changing climate.

"So we thought it was a good idea to take a pause," said Julie Anne Overton, spokeswoman for the Santa Fe National Forest.

The agency's initial decision based on a finding of no significant impact under the National Environmental Policy Act has been suspended.

When an agency withdraws its NEPA finding, federal regulations require the agency to reopen a period for objections to the project, but only for those who submitted statements before.

People who expressed concerns in an earlier period that ended in May must resubmit their objections for them to be considered, Overton said. The date for the new objection period has yet to be decided, but it should start by the end of the year.

"This pause in the NEPA process gives us the opportunity to re-engage with our partners and our community on the urgent need to make the forested landscapes around Santa Fe more resilient to the threats of climate change, drought and wildfire," James Duran, acting Santa Fe forest supervisor, said in a statement.

Overton said the agency doesn't plan to revise its environmental assessment of the project, nor does it aim to a conduct a more intensive analysis, such as an environmental impact statement.

"The analysis in the EA is sound," Overton said. "The plan is to reinitiate an objection period on the EA."

Conservationists expressed disappointment that the agency wasn't going to take a closer look at the project and consider changes.

"[The plan] is fundamentally flawed and out of step with the climate emergency," said Dominick DellaSala, chief scientist for Wild Heritage, an environmental advocacy group based in Berkeley, Calif. "It's unfortunate they don't see that, especially since they admitted they blew it on climate change."

DellaSala was referring to a recent Forest Service report that said the agency miscalculated how parched the wooded landscape had become under a megadrought and changing climate, setting the stage for the mammoth wildfire.

This plan appears to allow crews to remove too many trees, he said, which would create clearings for grasses, weeds and other vegetation to grow and, when the weather warms, to dry out and become flammable.

Aside from causing an unintended wildfire hazard, overthinning diminishes the forest's character, turning it into an artificial environment, DellaSala said.

Adam Rissien, rewilding manager for Santa Fe-based WildEarth Guardians, said he was initially happy to hear the agency was pulling back on the project and was hopeful it would take a harder look at the plan.

Then he learned the agency was going to stand by what he viewed as faulty analysis.

The agency is putting forth a vague 10- to 15-year plan that uses "conditions-based management," allowing it to approve logging and controlled burns wherever and whenever conditions call for them, Rissien said, adding that means the agency doesn't have to disclose any locations ahead of time for where crews cut trees or set prescribed fires.

"What they propose to do is figure that out after they authorize the project," Rissien said. "This is what we call a 'leap first and look later' approach."

The plan covers roadless forests, which tend to have far fewer wildfires than ones with regular human activity, Rissien said. The agency should instead concentrate its thinning and controlled burns closer to residential areas while working to fireproof the homes, he added.

Trees up to 16 inches in diameter can be cut in roadless tracts, he said, arguing that's logging with an underlying commercial motive.

Overton said the prescribed burn plans will be determined later and would incorporate any policy changes that occur from the 90-day review.

The pause in the project comes as the agency releases a final version of the Santa Fe forest management plan, which was overhauled for the first time since it was drafted in 1987. It was amended a number of times over the years, but this is the first full-scale revision.

Forest officials reshaped the plan with an eye on keeping it malleable for when the climate, landscape and science change in the future.

The revised plan addresses how extended drought, increased development, population growth and more diverse uses are affecting the forest. It also offers broad guidance for adapting to whatever comes in the next 10 or 15 years.

This plan calls for crews to increase mechanical tree thinning by 135 percent and almost triple the amount of managed burns.

And like the mountains resiliency project, it has drawn a contentious line between those who think the thinning is vital to protect the forests and nearby communities and those who view it as meddling too much in nature.