A Public Service of Santa Fe Community College
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

June 7 - How NM Tree Farmers Safeguard Their Livelihoods Despite Wildfire Damage

 

It’s the time of year when many Santa Feans celebrate the coming of summer. Yet summer is also the time of often-catastrophic wildfires. 

As we investigate solutions to local problems, Ellen Berkovich interviews David Old, a Santa Fe businessman who has been turning damaged timber into a business through an initiative called the Collaborative Forest Restoration Program.  

Old managed his Pecos ranch, which has been owned by his family for a century, as a sustainable tree farm. Then it was burned in two forest fires, including the Tres Lagunas Fire in 2013.  Here you’ll hear from David Old about the aftermath of wildfire on both forest and livelihood. For ranchers like Old, it meant collaborating with environmental nonprofits, Indian tribes and others to protect forest health. Ellen Berkovitch has the story.