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With snow on the ground and more forecasted later this week, fire crews are preparing to potentially begin pile burning near the High Road to Taos (Highway 76) as early as Wednesday, Jan. 31. Forest Service personnel will be supported by partners, including the Ojo Sarco Volunteer Fire Department, Taos County, Red River Fire Department and the collaborative All Hands, All Lands Burn Team.

The piles are located in three locations adjacent to the communities of El Valle, Trampas and Ojo Sarco (see map). They were created from 200 acres of thinning as part of the Rio Trampas Project, which aims to restore forest health and resiliency next to communities while providing fuelwood and other wood product opportunities to residents and visitors.

The ponderosa forests around the communities are fire-dependent and must undergo fire disturbance on a regular basis to maintain resiliency. Discussions and collaboratives about improving the Embudo Creek Watershed, where these piles are located, have been occurring for years. Most recently, the Tres Rios Watershed Coalition was formed to identify priority areas for restoration.

"We're excited that the Carson National Forest and its partners are seeing these projects through to completion,” said Tres Rios Watershed Coalition Coordinator J.R. Logan. “Burning these piles under the right conditions is the best way to ensure that we've removed hazardous fuels in order to protect communities and improve the resiliency of these forests."

The project is part of the national Wildfire Crisis Strategy. As an area with some of the most at-risk firesheds in the nation, the strategy identified a 1.5-million-acre area in and around the Carson National Forest as the Enchanted Circle Landscape. Forest Service staff and partners across the region are working to protect communities and natural resources by restoring healthy, resilient, fire-adapted forests using mechanical thinning and returning beneficial fire in these landscapes.

As such, one of the piling areas is the result of 40 acres thinned by residents participating in the Carson National Forest’s unique partnership focused Mayordomo Program. The program works with organizations to have local leñeros, or woodcutters, adopt one-acre blocks of the forest and thin trees under a prescription that will contribute to reducing hazardous fuels. The leñeros in this unit kept the thinned wood, piled unusable wood and received a $300 stipend upon completion. The Rio de las Trampas Unit off Forest Road 207 is in partnership with the Rio de Las Trampas Forest Council, Forest Stewards Guild and many other partners.

Thinning and piling in two other areas planned for ignitions was completed by multiple local contractors:

• West of Highway 76: 60 acres
• East of Highway 76 and off Forest Road 714: 100 acres.

The piles off Forest Road 714 are adjacent to the 2023 El Valle Fire burn area. The fire last September burned 525 acres, including piles from about 260 acres of thinning. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

“I’m looking forward to taking advantage of the weather to treat the remaining piles around the communities,” said Camino Real District Ranger Michael Lujan. “Partnerships have and will continue to be critical to everyone’s success in stewarding the forest through the wildfire crisis.”

Fire managers will continue to monitor forecasts and ground conditions before ignitions. If circumstances change, they will postpone for a later date. Once burned, crews will patrol and monitor the piles until they are called out.