Thinning reduces wildfire threat in high-risk areas near Silver City

SILVER CITY, NM, Oct. 11, 2023 – The Gila National Forest, Silver City Ranger District plans to resume thinning in the Feeley Subdivision on Monday, Oct. 16, 2023, potentially continuing until the end of November. Fire crews will be using chainsaws to complete the work.

The work continues the Joint Chiefs' Bear Creek to Signal Peak Collaborative Restoration project, a joint U.S. Department of Agriculture effort between the Natural Resource Conservation Service and the Forest Service. The New Mexico Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resources Department, Forestry Division, Socorro District, is a key partner, assisting with project assessment and subcontracting with local forestry contractors to complete the work.

"This project will help break up the horizontal and vertical continuity of fuels, increasing the space between trees that remain by removing mostly smaller trees and shrubs," said Silver City District Ranger Elizabeth Toney. "The thinning will reduce the opportunity for wildfire to spread from the ground into crowns of trees or pass from one tree to the next. If a future wildfire reaches the area after treatments are completed, firefighters will have better conditions to engage the fire and it will allow residents greater time to evacuate."

The project includes units adjacent to the Feeley Subdivision. This was identified as a priority treatment area in the 2020 Grant County Community Wildfire Protection Plan, Grant County Soil and Water Conservation District's Long Range Resources Plan, and New Mexico Forestry Division's Forestry Action Plan (2020).

Signs will be posted during project implementation. For everyone's safety, visitors should watch and listen for sawyers, allowing plenty of room for them to work. For more information contact Maribeth Pecotte at 575-388-8211 or Maribeth.Pecotte@usda.gov .

Please visit the Gila National Forest at www.fs.usda.gov/gila