Silver City, NM, June 20, 2025—Gila National Forest officials have decided to postpone the June 25 public meeting regarding the 2022 Black Fire Recovery – Phase 1 project due to the ongoing Trout Fire.
"We want to encourage robust public participation in the Phase 1 Black Fire recovery project, and out of respect for community members who are currently displaced by evacuations due to the Trout Fire, we have decided to postpone next week's Black Fire recovery public meeting in Silver City," said Gila National Forest Supervisor Camille Howes. "Once a new meeting date has been selected, the date, time, and location will be announced, so please stay tuned for more information to come."
The 2022 Black Fire encompassed 237,263 acres of the Gila National Forest. Since that time, the forest and its partners have worked on repairing roads, trails, and fences, and cleaned stock tanks of sediment. In September 2024, the forest approved a Watershed Restoration Action Plan (WRAP) covering 24 watersheds impacted by the fire or its downstream effects. The WRAP describes the kinds of stream, road, trail, forest, and rangeland restoration activities would be needed to restore the watersheds to proper functioning condition. The WRAP is available online at https://www.fs.usda.gov/r03/gila/natural-resources/forest-health/black-fire-recovery.
About the Forest Service: The USDA Forest Service has for more than 100 years brought people and communities together to answer the call of conservation. Grounded in world-class science and technology– and rooted in communities–the Forest Service connects people to nature and to each other. The Forest Service cares for shared natural resources in ways that promote lasting economic, ecological, and social vitality. The agency manages 193 million acres of public land, provides assistance to state and private landowners, maintains the largest wildland fire and forestry research organizations in the world. The Forest Service also has either a direct or indirect role in stewardship of about 900 million forested acres within the U.S., of which over 130 million acres are urban forests where most Americans live.
