[Editor's Note: This is part 2 of a multi-part series of articles on the Commission work session of Feb. 25, 2020 and the regular meeting on Feb. 27, 2020.]

By Mary Alice Murphy

After county reports at the Grant County Commission work session on Feb. 25, 2020, presentations began.

Corina Castillo, Youth Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition coordinator, was introduced by Sheriff's Department Lt. Michael Burns. "We have been working closely with this group, including helping with public dissemination of information."

Castillo said the coalition was put in place in 2013 and has undergone several changes of coordinator and participation.

"We deal with youth in environmental strategies, which means we deal with social norms, which take longer to change to get a lasting effect," she said. "We are funded by the state Office of Substance Abuse Prevention. We work to reduce underage drinking and reduce opioid use in the older age group. We are working with law enforcement and working with the public schools and the university on eliminating zero tolerance policies. We are taking a campaign to the general public to change social norms on giving alcohol to minors. In the 60+ population, we are educating them that research shows youth are getting many of the prescription drugs from their grandparents or older relatives. We are making sure the pharmacies are giving out the information on how to keep drugs out of youths' hands. We will be doing a community survey from the end of February to mid-April to anyone 18 years of age or older about the use and perception of alcohol and opioid use. We want to invite you to our next coalition meeting at noon on Thursday (Feb. 27), always on the fourth Thursday of the month at noon at the HMS Conference room."

District 5 Commissioner Harry Browne asked why the coalition wants to eliminate zero tolerance policies.

Castillo said one of the efforts of the coalition is to help schools with their policies. Many are not ready to eliminate the zero tolerance. If athletes are caught with drugs they are automatically expelled. Research shows that expulsion leaves the youths no way to get treatment to stop the behavior.

The next presentation was by the Gila National Forest Silver City District Ranger Beth Ihle and Christa Osborn, recreation specialist.

"We want to give a brief update on the Forest Plan Revision," Ihle said. "We went to eight different communities and met with about 185 people. We were trying to help people make comments on the revision. The comments are due April 16. We also wanted to tell you that we are still under injunction related to the spotted owl. Until the injunction, we, as a forest, already had projects approved, but not by a judge or negotiated with the plaintiff. We cannot do them if they involve the cutting of standing green trees. Yes, you can cut personal use firewood if you follow our instructions. We have prescribed burns approved projects for Bar 6 in the Burros in the spring and Jaybird in in the fall. The Gatton's Park project, at least portions of it, can go forward. We can do thinning around Little Cherry. What we are seeing is other projects coming in, such as a trailhead that we wanted done in the Little Walnut Area before Continental Divide Trail Days, but we can't do them because of the presence of green trees. We can take down shrubs, but not trees. I think there are some unintended consequences of that action."

Osborn spoke on recreation topics. "The CDT trailhead was near Gomez Peak, so we are working on Plan B. We will implement a recreation area survey, we do every five years, starting this year on Oct. 1. We will also issue a statewide five national forest fee revision. All the national forests in the state are starting it but we want to ask folks what services and amenities they want on the national forests. We will come back and present on it before it is implemented."

Ihle said two restoration projects are going on in the county. One is the Georgetown project on a piece of private land, removal and placement in a landfill with cover, and another is in the Royal John Mine area, phase 2. "We haven't heard the details."

"Two mineral projects we will be working on with Freeport McMoRan," Ihle said. "Our regulations require us to make hard rock proposals a priority. We have a handful of other projects with the county, including the Community Wildfire Protection Plan, which they've done a good job of. For the shooting range, we have the permit in place. We are also doing a landscape risk assessment preparing for fire season. We are appreciative of the road work done by the county. On wildfire response, we have hotshots coming in two weeks. We understand some changes are coming to dispatch. We are still doing hiring of fire personnel on the rest of the forest, although the Silver District is complete. We support the volunteer fire departments on their education and outreach. We have a new trails and recreation person starting on Thursday. We want to start hiring of permanent trail crew personnel. On youth, we have been working on the fire crew hiring. It's really important to train them to segue into permanent firefighters. We hired a year-round recreation coordinator, Alex Torres. We have youth Aldo Leopold interns come in on Fridays and we have education cooperation with Western New Mexico University. We are putting in a new well in the Burros and every year we work on two to four miles of fence line. We got funding for replacement of bridges on North Star Mesa Road, which will cause some delays in travel on that road."

Browne asked if the mineral projects with Freeport are exploration projects.

"No, it's a quarry between Santa Clara and Chino," Ihle said. "Others are meeting with the BLM to do an expansion in the Tyrone Mine. It's not a new area. It's just changing up what they are doing."

The next presentation will be on the county parcel mapping project.