Vegetation Management and Fire Use
Vegetation Management and Fire Use Overview:
The Santa Fe Municipal Watershed Plan lays out an integrated set of recommendations for management of the forest and riparian vegetation within the watershed, with the goal of maintaining reduced fire hazard in areas that have already been treated and treating other areas that pose a significant fire risk the the municipal water supply. These recommendations emphasize the use of mechanical thinning and fire management as tools to maintain forest health throughout the 20-year life of the project. The work in the lower elevation non-wilderness portion of the Municipal Watershed is permitted through the 2002 Santa Fe Municipal Watershed Project Environmental Impact Statement and subsequent Record of Decision. The proposed work in the wilderness area is the subject of a pending Environmental Assessment, expected to be concluded in 2013.
As the below image shows, significant areas (over 5,500 acres) in non-wilderness portion of the Municipal Watershed have been treated according to the vegetative management recommendations since 2002. The following summarizes the vegetation management recommendations for the Municipal Watershed.
Vegetation Management Recommendations for the Non-Wilderness Municipal Watershed (lower elevations, dominated by ponderosa pine):
- Prescribed Fire in Treated Areas of municipal watershed, with 4 proposed burn entries over 20 years;
- Continue
current smoke management practices including public outreach;
- Evaluate
fire hazard and post-fire erosion potential in pinon juniper
woodlands within the lower watershed and adjacent properties;
- Protect
southwestern pine during
prescribed burns; and
- Continue
current post treatment monitoring paying special attention to
invasive species.
Vegetation Management Recommendations for the Wilderness Area (upper- and mid-elevations)
- No treatment in 4,017 acres of spruce-fir in upper elevations; and
- Prescribed fire treatments in approximately 2,900 acres of mid-elevation mixed conifer, ponderosa pine and Gambel oak vegetation in the lower portion of the Wilderness Area above McClure Reservoir.
Riparian Areas (non-wilderness Municipal Watershed):
- No prescribed treatment from McClure Reservoir to Wilderness boundary;
- Consider refining seasonal water release from McClure Reservoir;
- Remove non-native tree species growing in Nichols Dam; and
- Continue monitoring for integrity of riparian function and for non-native species using the Proper Functioning Condition methodology
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