Wildfire isn't just a forest phenomenon.
Fire season kicked off last month with the 2,674-acre 352 Fire near Tucumcari, followed by large fires in Oklahoma and Texas—all grassland fires, driven by strong winds through flashy fuels. A historic snow drought has in part brought fire season to our door earlier.
Speaking of fire at the door, there are crucial steps you can take around your home to prepare for wildfire season. This month, we dive into home hardening and defensible space. Wildfire Prepared Homes offers a roadmap to resilience—and might save your insurance, too.
Read on for some home-hardening weekend work, your guide to reforestation, biomass pilot projects, spring microgrants, Southwest Wildfire Awareness Week and more. If you're enjoying this newsletter, pass it on to a friend!
Subscribe here From the Field
In 2025, New Mexico was second highest in the nation for uninsured properties at 13%. In this month's From the Field, we dive deep into home hardening to empower you as a homeowner. Wildfire can't be solved—but your home's resilience to it can be.
There's no way to speak lightly about New Mexico's situation: Wildfires are burning hotter and more often. Premiums are climbing. Decades-old homes are deemed uninsurable.
But the research tells a more hopeful story. Homes burn for specific, identifiable reasons. Embers find vulnerabilities. Small fires become big fires. And those vulnerabilities can be fixed.
Hot Tip: The 5 feet that matter most
Josh Schlossberg/Boulder Weekly When a wildfire's burning, there's a lot out of your control.
The good news: Protecting your home comes largely down to factors you can control—andin a small footprint, too.
The Zero Zone, your home and its immediate 5-foot perimeter, is the single most important area to take small steps that will have a huge impact on your home's resilience against wildfire. In fact, building a buffer zone doubles the likelihood that your home will survive.
>Here are a few things you can do on an evening or weekend to prevent fire from igniting your home:
- Clear roofs and gutters of debris
- Repair loose or missing shingles
- Cover vents with 1/8-inch screening
- Move flammable materials from exterior walls: mulch, plants, firewood piles, even trash cans. Remove anything stored under decks/porches.
- Screen or box-in areas below patios/decks to prevent embers from accumulating
For more detailed steps, click the link below or click through this checklist from the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety's Wildfire Prepared program.
In the Community
Post-Fire Reforestation:
A guide for the New Mexico landowner
What comes after wildfire? From soil stabilization two months out to ordering seedlings two years out, reforestation doesn't have to be overwhelming.
Our new reforestation guide provides clear, science‑based steps to help landowners and natural resource managers plan and carry out successful reforestation efforts after wildfire. Access the guide at the link above; for more information, our Reforestation page.
📍Silver City
There's a biomass-ive opportunity in New Mexico forests.
Our Silver City satellite office wrapped up a pilot project with Gila WoodNet turning forestry slash piles into wood pellets, both generating forest products and lowering wildfire risk from slash piles.
Curious about biomass? Learn more about forest industry!
📍Glorieta
Work continues on Glorieta Camps in the Santa Fe National Forest, where to-date, contractors have completed 145 acres of mastication and 12 acres of hand-thinning and piling. By the project's end, over 250 acres will be treated, restoring forest health and reducing wildfire potential in this high-risk community.
📍Las Vegas
Happy Arbor Month!
The City of Las Vegas is adopting an updated tree ordinance. This update includes a new section on green stormwater infrastructure todivert water, passively irrigate trees and reduce the impacts of post-fire flooding from the Hermit's Peak-Calf Canyon Fire.
Apply for a spring microgrant!
Fire Adapted New Mexico Learning Network (FACNM) is awarding up to $2,000 for events and opportunities that strengthen wildfire preparedness. Funding can support preparedness events, assessment days, post-fire education, equipment rentals, or long-term grants and projects that strengthen Fire-Adapted Community efforts.
Applications are due Friday, March 20. Apply today!
Southwest Wildfire Awareness Week
Southwest Wildfire Awareness Week kicks off March 23-28, and the Division will be focusing on social media messaging around wildfire prevention topics, as well as defensible space and home hardening.
The Broadcast: News and Notes
Wildfire is a shared story | Taos News
Wildfire isn't just combustion. It's a conversation — about water, about forest health, about rural economies, about identity and place. If we limit that conversation to technical bullet points, we miss an opportunity to build something stronger than fuel breaks.
Ending the era of megafires | TIME Magazine
Perhaps the most surprising fact about wildfires isn't how grave a crisis they've become—it's how preventable so many of them are. We have the technology and the knowledge. What do we need? Committed investment and leadership.
As the planet heats, insurance premiums rise | High Country News
In 2025, New Mexico ranked second highest in the nation for uninsured properties at 13%. From claims by zip code to states at highest risk, how are insurance agencies responding to climate-driven disasters?
Preparing for wind-driven grassland and prairie fires | Fire Adapted NM
Wildfire isn't just a forest phenomenon. Rangelands cover nearly 60% of all Western lands and are exceptionally responsive to dry, windy conditions.
Wildfire Potential Outlook: March 2026 | National Interagency Fire Center
A historic snow drought persists across the state, leading to fire activity in central and eastern Mexico and prompting burn bans in parts of the Cibola. If you live in a grassy area, especially in eastern NM, be particularly alert: Fine fuels and wind can increase wildfire potential. What did last year at this time look like by comparison?
>Events and Upcoming
🗓️ Piñon-juniper care workshop | Saturday, March 7, 10 a.m.-12 p.m.
Mountain Cloud Zen Center, 7241 Old Santa Fe Trail, Santa Fe 87505
Learn to ID and address common issues like piñon needle scale, mistletoe fungus, drought stress and bark beetles with treatments like hard water spray and trimming. Learn more and RSVP.
🗓️ Del Fuego Field Work 2025 | Saturday, March 7, 7 p.m.
Taos Center for the Arts, 211 Paseo del Pueblo Norte, Taos, NM 87571
Fire is complicated. Join this interactive event for films and discussion on fire: hard science, the humanities and traditional knowledge, loss, rejuvenation, grief and hope for the future. RSVP.
🗓️ 10th Annual Rio Chama Congreso | Saturday, March 21, 9-5 p.m.
Northern New Mexico College - El Rito Campus, Private Drive 1681, El Rito, NM 87530
The San Juan-Chama Partnership's annual flagship event discussing pertinent watershed issues. Tours and film screening Friday, Congreso Saturday. More information and registration.
🗓️ The Fire Circle: A Community Fair on Wildfire Mitigation, Response and Restoration | Saturday, March 21, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
Luna Community College, 366 Luna Drive, Las Vegas, NM 87701
A community resilience day featuring speakers and booths on home hardening, groundwater contamination, power line safety, the value of volunteer fire departments, regrowth in the Hermit's Peak-Calf Canyon Fire burned area, and much more. Learn more.
🗓️ Southern New Mexico tree planting events | Ongoing
Las Cruces, Silver City and Truth or Consequences
Feeling the heat? Plant a tree with Tree New Mexico! Check out their events calendar for dates and locations.
Job Opportunities
Mimbres Crews supports the Cibola National Forest in 2025.
New Mexico Forestry Division | Hiring for wildland firefighters
- (jobs may not be posted by this publishing date, but check back!)
Forest Stewards Guild | Hiring for key wildfire positions:
- Southwest Prescribed Fire Coordinator - Santa Fe (Closes March 30)
- Southwest Forestry and Fuels Coordinator - Santa Fe (Closes March 13)
U.S. Forest Service | Hiring for seasonal positions in recreation, timber and range support in New Mexico national forests.
