Joint Chiefs' project aims to reduce fuels and restore forests on public and private lands

SILVER CITY, NM, June 26, 2023, 2023 – As part of the Forest Service's 10-year Wildfire Crisis Strategy, the Gila National Forest is engaged in a whole-of-forest effort to protect communities and infrastructure threatened by catastrophic wildfire. "Never before have the efforts of the entire forest, region, and agency been harnessed to achieve one common goal," said Gila National Forest Supervisor, Camille Howes. "Our major emphases over the next 5 to 10 years will be reducing fuels, restoring watersheds, and increasing resiliency of forest lands near communities."

One of three emphasis areas on the forest where this critical work is focused is in the Bear Creek to Signal Peak Joint Chiefs' Collaborative Restoration (Joint Chiefs') Project. In 2021 the collaborative project was awarded about $1.7 million in funding over a 3-year period. It is a partnership of the Gila National Forest and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to reduce fuels and restore forests and watersheds on federal and private lands. The Bureau of Land Management; New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department (NM EMNRD) Forestry Division; Grant County; New Mexico Game and Fish; the Gila Landscape Collaborative; Grant Soil and Water Conservation District; the Nature Conservancy, and Our Lady of Guadalupe Monastery also signed on as supporters of the project.

Through coordination with NRCS, local landowners have opportunity to pursue land stewardship improvements in alignment with project priorities. As a technical and financial partner, the NRCS is developing and implementing conservation plans that include actions to improve wildlife habitats and forest stand composition, reduce hazardous fuels, manage brush, and stabilize watersheds. NRCS funded four projects in 2022, 13 projects in 2023, and has fielded several requests for funding in 2024. "These projects bring a sense of pride in ownership for making stewardship upgrades, along with providing local job opportunities," said NRCS-Rangeland Management Specialist, Kendall Smith.

The Joint Chiefs' project is centered around some of the 37 Wildland Urban Interface communities identified in the Grant County Community Wildfire Protection Plan as "at high risk" from catastrophic wildfire. One of those communities is tucked away at the north end of Little Walnut Road in Silver City. It includes the Order of St. Benedict's Our Lady of Guadalupe Monastery, perched on the edge of a ridge overlooking the expansive, wild, and rugged landscape of its largest neighbor, the Gila National Forest. Nestled among the pine, juniper, and oak, the monastery is a sanctuary for contemplative work and prayer, lovingly hand-built over the past 30 years by resident brothers and sisters themselves.

The monastery facilities are a testament to their dedication, ingenuity, and care. Beyond the buildings, the brothers' and sisters' work that has gone into managing their land and forest resources is evident. "We have worked with the Silver City Ranger District to keep the forest beautiful," said Brother Santiago. "As contemplatives we seek to manage and maintain the forest and land around us as a continuous resource of silence and seclusion, which are necessary requirements for contemplative life."

The monastery has also engaged over the years with its neighbors to promote fuels thinning and forest restoration on private and public lands. The monastery signed on as a supporter of the Joint Chiefs' project as testament to their commitment to forest restoration and fuels reduction. "The different collaboratives working together and moving this massive work of restoration forward is a good response to properly addressing the unhealthy forest we have inherited," said Brother Santiago. "We look at the causes in order to effectuate cure. We look at the past in order not to make the same mistakes."

Being so personally and spiritually connected to the land, one of their greatest concerns is losing it all to a wildfire. "Just please don't make us evacuate," said Brother Santiago. Three days later, the fast-moving Rico Fire broke out just a few miles away, as if to prove his point. Thanks to quick action by ground and air resources, catastrophe has been avoided, this time.

The Silver City Ranger District is partnering with NM EMNRD Forestry Division to contract urgent fuels reduction work around the Little Walnut and Gomez Peak areas. The change is notable along Little Walnut Road, where recent removal of oak and juniper brush along the east side of the road has reduced ladder fuels and opened up gaps between tree canopies in order to slow the rate of fire spread when a wildfire occurs. The treatments will allow more time and space for firefighters to respond and for evacuations to occur when they are necessary. Follow-up with prescribed fire and additional thinning will help maintain the fuels reduction into the future. By uniting federal, state, and private resources we can and are making a difference toward achieving our goals of protecting communities at risk and restoring the forest landscape.

"The restoration begins within ourselves and from there it will flow outwards. We need to continue this work together as a whole. It is not a one-man show. Unity brings about beauty in diversity," said Brother Santiago. "The management of the forest and surrounding lands will be an ongoing project way beyond our lifetime. The Order of St. Benedict has outlived many other entities, despite world calamities and natural disasters. We hope to continue in this great work of restoration in collaboration with the Forest Service and the Gila Landscape Collaborative members, contributing primarily in a spiritual way."

Landowners interested in applying for stewardship projects through NRCS must be an agricultural producer or manager of non-industrial privatized forest, be the deeded landowner or maintain a valid lease to verify land control in order to be eligible for financial assistance. Interested applicants can reach out to the NRCS by calling 575-388-1569 ex. 3 or by visiting their office at 3082 32nd St. By-Pass, Suite C, in Silver City.

Learn more about the Grant CountyWPP at  GC-CWPP.pdf (grantcountynm.gov). To find out more about NCRS, visit New Mexico | Natural Resources Conservation Service (usda.gov). For more information about the Gila National Forest or the Joint Chiefs' project, contact Maribeth Pecotte at 575-388-8211 or Maribeth.Pecotte@usda.gov.