A new experiment is underway on the landscape where New Mexico’s largest wildfire scorched more than 300,000 acres two years ago.
Volunteers and forest service workers met on Saturday in the area where the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire struck and they planted hundreds of tiny trees as part of an effort to restore the fire-torn mountainsides.
The seedlings are being developed so that some might better survive in a region where wildfires continue to be a concern.
Researchers at New Mexico State University are experimenting by giving some of the baby trees less water during their development as a way to harden them for the drier and warmer conditions they will face trying to put down roots in burn scars.
The Nature Conservancy and the Hermit’s Peak Watershed Alliance are partnering on the project, which led to Saturday’s work by a small group of volunteers who planted hundreds of seedlings in a few hours.
The conditions were perfect for planting, thanks to overnight rain in the region.
Nearly 400 ponderosa pine seedlings were placed in spots identified by the U.S. Forest Service as high priorities, given the severity of the burn. Those locations are mostly areas where not a single live tree was left standing.
It's here where land managers, researchers and volunteers hope the seedlings will form islands of trees that can help regenerate more trees by producing their own seeds over time.
The Nature Conservancy used donations to purchase a total of 5,000 seedlings. New Mexico Highlands University is contributing another 3,500 seedlings.
The trees will be monitored to gauge success.
The National Interagency Fire Center says blazes have charred more than 11 thousand square miles around the country this year, higher than the average annual burn.
Here in Northern New Mexico, crews began reseeding soon after the flames were dying down in 2022. Since then tens of thousands of more acres have been seeded and mulched, and flood control structures have been built at countless sites.
Some patches of ground aren’t taking seed because they were burned so severely, and runoff from heavy storms the last two summers have resulted in damage.
The Hermit's Peak Watershed Alliance team returned to the mountain again yesterday to do more work. They will continue daily through early October, with a couple more weekend planting sessions for interested volunteers.
The goal is to get the seedlings in the ground before the first frost.
Adapted from an Associated Press story by Susan Montoya Bryan.
