By Lif C Strand, Catron County CWPP Contractor

RESERVE, N.M. November 30, 2011. La Niña conditions, an ongoing drought, buildup of hazardous fuels conditions in the National Forests and bad memories of this year's catastrophic Wallow Fire have prompted the Catron County Commission to take aggressive action to protect lives and property within its borders as the 2012 fire season approaches.

La Niña is a periodic and predictable weather pattern that brings warm, dry conditions to the Southwest. Catron County currently is experiencing drought conditions ranging from abnormally dry to extremely dry, within the southern part of the county - the heart of the Gila National Forest - experiencing the worst drought conditions (e.g. a 13.4” precipitation deficit for the first 10 months of 2011 in Glenwood).

“We can expect to see wildfires before spring, due to these dangerous conditions, if nothing changes” said Zina McGuire, Catron County Fire Marshal. “If we learned anything from the Wallow Fire, it is that we can't wait until we see the smoke to protect our people and property - we have to act now.”

“Catron County has been dealing with concerns of our citizens regarding hazardous fuel reductions and potential catastrophic wildland fires for a long time now,” McGuire said. “We still receive calls, emails and visits by citizens who remain concerned even after the end of the Wallow Fire, and our citizens are very worried about the upcoming fire season.”

Catron County began addressing the issues of catastrophic wildfires after the passage of Catron County's Disaster Declaration Resolution in 2001, which is still in effect. Following the guidance of the Federal Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003, the County worked in partnership with NM State Forestry, the US Bureau of Land Management and the US Forest Service to create a Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) for the 7000 square miles within its borders. Catron County additionally created CWPPs for eleven major Wildland/Urban Interface (WUI) areas.

The CWPPs assessed the state of the forest and woodlands and the risk to WUI areas in order to know what work needed to be done to reduce the risk of wildfire.

“The point of the CWPPs is protection of human life and property” McGuire said. “To be useful tools, the CWPPs must be reviewed and updated immediately.”  The Catron County Commissioners agrees.

Accomplishment reports, of the work done by public land management agencies to implement CWPP goals to date, have been submitted to the County by these agencies and will be used to reassess fire prevention priorities.
Additionally, the County has contracted with a Fire Wise/Bio Mass contractor and obtained two chippers and a grapple truck (using all Federal funds) to help residents implement the Fire Wise program.

 “Our goal is to analyze the submitted data to see if the fire risk for our communities has changed. Once analyzed, we can make a push to help protect the highest risk communities prior to fire season” McGuire said.

For more information see http://www.catronfireprevention.org/