Members and participants at the Southwest County Commission Alliance heard a report on Catron County's activities to lessen fire danger and destruction.

Zina Day-McGuire, Catron County fire chief, who has also had 30 years in emergency management and has served as a volunteer fire department chief, said the volunteer fire departments need more recruits, as the average age of the volunteers is 62.

"We want to change policy on fires," McGuire said. "After fires, residents have to build back homes and wait for flooding."

She showed a video of last year's catastrophic floods that took out Dixon's Apple Orchard after the Las Conchas Fire and about an inch of rain on the burned area. It took out the orchard, the home and the outbuildings.

"Our creeks are wider and deeper, so they can carry more water," McGuire said. "In Catron County, so far, we've had runoff from the Whitewater-Baldy burn in Mineral Creek after .71 inches of rain. We anticipate a large rainfall could take out the Mineral Bridge.

"I give credit to the county, the Department of Transportation, and the Army Corps of Engineers for clearing out brush in the floodway, but we still don't know if we can survive if there is more than one inch of rain," McGuire continued. "Silver Creek has flooded several times. The Forest Service and the U.S. Geological Service have also helped mitigate what could possibly be catastrophic. Nothing has come down Whitewater Creek yet."

She presented a history of declarations of disaster resolutions and intergovernmental task forces put in place by the county because of past fires, including last year's Wallow and this year's Whitewater-Baldy.

"Our citizens are concerned about what we are doing to protect lives, forests and resources," McGuire said. "The Bear Fire in 2006 sterilized the ground, so there will be no trees growing there. Fires burn not only trees, but also houses.

"I will work with (Gila National Forest Supervisor) Kelly Russell to see if we can manage the forests better," she continued. "Community Wildfire Protection Plans are comprehensive and locally supported solutions. It's important the agencies realize we want to work with them. The minimum requirement is collaboration, which must involve local and federal agencies.

“We must identify and prioritize for hazardous fuel reduction,” McGuire said. “We also must determine the boundary of the wildland-urban interface. It is a requirement for federal agencies to give priority to protect at-risk communities or watersheds.”

She said the Secretaries of Agriculture and Interior could expedite development of programs, such as in the WUI.

McGuire touched on the Health Forests Restoration Act, which emphasizes that federal agencies collaborate with communities in developing hazardous fuel reduction. The act provides communities with the opportunity to influence where and how to reduce fuels.

“The National Fire Protection Agency’s has put in 100 years of money,  studies and research, and the Wallow and the Whitewater Baldy are what we have to show for it,” McGuire said.

In Catron County, 18 WUI areas have been identified, and “we would like to get them off the list,” she said. “The county bought a chipper to help people with defensible space, and we have a gravel truck to carry the slash if someone does not want it chipped. We have implemented the Ready, Set, Go Program. All this and we still have catastrophic fire. It cost $79 million to fight the Wallow Fire. And $23 million to date on the Whitewater-Baldy.”

Russell confirmed the fire had been declared contained that same day—Tuesday.

“We will have to deal with flooding for the next five years, although the Burned Area Emergency Response team is doing a good job,” McGuire said.

“What else can we do?” she asked in her presentation. “We need to treat 306,000 acres, and we got 6,000 treated. Where is the fault, local, regional or federal? I think the locals in the Forest Service do the best they can, and we did what was asked of us. We looked at each WUI and created a risk assessment. We are still at extreme risk.”

She said the Catron County Commission asks the residents to make their priority to prevent catastrophic wildfires.

“We are asking for an active and profitable timber sales program,” McGuire said. “The federal agencies will be asked to look at their current fire policies. Right now, they have a mandate to let natural fires burn in the wilderness. I’m not sure that’s right in May, when we’re in drought. I think things need to be changed at the federal level. It has to be a joint effort.

“The heart of the Gila is very, very sad right now,” she concluded.

The next item on the agenda was tabled, because Bucky Allred was to discuss resource consultation in Catron County, but he was unable to attend due to illness.

Alex Thal, consultant to Catron County, asked Russell if alternative G is still the forest’s preferred Travel Management Plan.

“We are going through more than 2,000 comments to see if there will be any changes,” Russell said. “We will make the decision and then allow another 45-day appeal.”

Thal gave a report on the RS2477 road process.

He also corrected an earlier speaker who had said a road in question in Catron County was established in 1987 and was in litigation with the federal government.

“New Mexico 12 has been in existence since 1883,” Thal corrected. “And it is not in litigation. We are in the process of quieting the title.”

He has written a guide on RS2477 roads and how to document their use over time. The designation varies by agency. For the Bureau of Land Management, it must have existed before 1977; for the Forest Service before the establishment of the agency in 1907, he said.

Grant County Manager Jon Paul Saari talked about why the SWCCA was formed, in response to an earlier comment asking why the group was needed.

“The New Mexico Association of Counties was originally formed of the 33 New Mexico Counties as an insurance pool, to lower rates,” Saari said. “It grew to a big board with representatives from each county to work on policy and change legislation.

“Why is this group needed?” Saari continued. “Most of the money and power sits in the north. Except for Las Cruces, most of the state south of I-40 is rural. We have mining and small mom-and-pop businesses. This group is trying to bring us together. We have the same issues.”

He said juvenile detention centers are a problem for all the counties in the area.

“Bringing small counties together gives us a bigger voice,” Saari said. “For instance, we had capital appropriations taken from Grant County for (University of New Mexico field) The Pit. We are working together to support our citizens by having a better and bigger voice.”

“We have put the alliance together to help ourselves in the southwest,” Gabriel Ramos, newly elected alliance chairman said. “We are also trying to collaborate with the New Mexico/Arizona Coalition of Counties.”

The rest of the meeting, which included discussion on juvenile detention and landfills will be covered in the final article.