Planting a future: Millions of dollars, millions of seedlings committed to repopulating 2-year-old burn scar with trees

Apr. 16—MORA — Twenty-six million seedlings might be enough to repopulate the estimated 70,000 to 110,000 acres of forest that sustained the most severe damage during 2022's Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire.

Joshua Sloan, a faculty member with the forestry department at New Mexico Highlands University, came up with that figure Tuesday at the John T. Harrington Forestry Research Center in this small town, which was at the heart of New Mexico's largest-ever fire.

The fire burned 341,471 acres in Mora, San Miguel and Taos counties. Some of that can be reseeded.

But Sloan said 70,000 to 110,000 acres of private and government land was so badly burned that seed dispersal would not work, necessitating the planting of seedlings.

State and federal officials and northern New Mexico residents gathered at the Harrington Center to recognize the second anniversary of the fire and discuss reforestation efforts.

"We're already collecting seeds, stocking them, subjecting them to drought stress and preparing to plant them in the optimal locations to ensure the success of those seedlings," Dylan M. Fuge, deputy secretary of New Mexico's Energy, Minerals & Natural Resources Department, told about 100 people at the center.

Fuge said that a $100 million dollar expansion project will enable the Harrington Forestry Research Center to increase its annual production of seedlings from 300,000 to 5 million.

Only about $32 million of state and federal funds have been secured for the project thus far. The United States Department of Agriculture contributed $11.6 million of that.

USDA Deputy Secretary Xochitl Torres Small, who grew up in Las Cruces and served as U.S. representative for New Mexico's 2nd Congressional District from 2019 to 2021, was at Tuesday's'meeting.

"We all depend on the success of this effort," Torres Small said. "New Mexico is a state with unique landscapes and strong cultural connections to the land. Now is the time to ensure that our forests continue to provide life-sustaining benefits to everyone."

The fires were the result of a U.S. Forest Service prescribed burn that raged out of control and a Forest Service pile burn that reignited. The Forest Service is an agency within the USDA.

"I can't say enough about how sorry the USDA is," Torres Small said. "But it is important that we work together to rebuild. The hardest part of rebuilding is trust. But an opportunity to rebuild relationships is part of the process."

Charred skeletons

The Forestry Research Center is operated jointly by New Mexico State University, the University of New Mexico, New Mexico Highlands University and the New Mexico State Forestry Division. It was founded in 1972 as an agricultural research facility. Owen Burney, the center's director, said it was never intended to be an operational reforestation center. But that's a major part of its mission now.

Burney said the center sits on 120 acres, of which 50 to 60 acres can be used for expansion. He said he believes new construction, which will take three to four years if the needed funds are appropriated, will cover seven to 10 acres.

Mora County Commissioner Veronica Serna called the center a blessing to Mora County and Western forests.

"They are going to add about 40 new greenhouses because we need them," Serna said. "We need them not just because of the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire, but because of the fires we are going to have."

Barbara Bradshaw, 77, and her husband, Larry, 79, who own more than 80 acres in Mora County, were at Tuesday's meeting.

They use their land to raise hay, keep horses and a mule and collect firewood for personal use from the forest on their property. The Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire burned parts of their acreage, destroying a double-wide manufactured home but sparing their house, barn and a cabin.

It was not grievance about the loss of personal property that brought them to the Harrington Center, but their concern for the future of a landscape they had grown to love but is now studded by the charred skeletons of trees. They needed to hear that what once was might be again — some day.

"I don't like looking at black sticks," Barbara said. "I don't like walking up through those black sticks. I don't like riding a horse up through those black sticks."

She said she understands that the forest she and her husband took pleasure in may not be back in their lifetime.

"But maybe in my daughters' lifetime," she said.