$25 Million Awarded for Northern NM Community Wildfire Defense Grants from USDA

Taos, N.M., May 22, 2024—The USDA Forest Service last week announced the second round of awardees for the Community Wildfire Defense Grants. Four local proposals were awarded a combined total of $25,347,133.

The Community Wildfire Defense Program assists at-risk communities, including Tribal communities, with planning for and lowering wildfire risks on tribal, state and privately-managed land. The program comes at a time when the nation faces an ongoing wildfire crisis, and these grants support the Forest Service’s plan to confront the wildfire crisis across all lands.

The funded proposals around the Carson National Forest are:

Partner	Funding	Projects
Cimarron Watershed Alliance	$10,000,000	Angel Fire Community Protection Project Implement high priority fuels reduction and forest restoration work on private lands in and around the community of Angel Fire, N.M. The project will create defensible space and fuel breaks and implement forest thinning and pile burning. Objective is to protect Angel Fire and surrounding landscape from high-intensity fires, reduce wildfire risk, restore forests to Fire Adapted ecosystems, make these areas more resilient, and allow all nearby communities to coexist with frequent wildfires.
Mora County	$88,000	Mora County CWPP Update Update the Mora County Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) following the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire. CWPPs and their equivalents are collaborative planning efforts intended for providing the community, however it may be defined in the plan, a way for reducing their wildfire risk and building resiliency to the impacts of wildfires. CWPP’s are an integral piece of helping communities implement the three goals of the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy.
Upper Chama Soil and Water Conservation District	$7,137,470	Upper Chama Wildfire Prevention Phase I Implement upland forest Hazardous Fuel Reduction, conduct defensible space mitigation within Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) areas and riparian treatment and restoration within the Upper Chama Soil and Water Conservation District (UCSWCD) boundaries.
West Latir Ditch Association	$8,121,663	West Latir Collaborative Forest Fuel Reduction and Watershed Protection Initiative Implement high priority fuels reduction work to reduce fuel loading, improve defensible space and create fuel breaks within and adjacent to the unincorporated/underserved communities El Rito and Latir in northeast Taos County, N.M.

Three of the proposals fall within major landscape projects where Carson National Forest and partners are already working across boundaries.

The Angel Fire and West Latir projects are within the Enchanted Circle Landscape, which is one of the priorities of the national Wildfire Crisis Strategy. It covers 1.5-million acres in and around the Carson National Forest where lands have been identified as some of the highest risk in the nation to wildfire.

The Upper Chama project is part of the Rio Chama Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Project, where the Forest Service and partners are working on over 3.8 million acres across Northern New Mexico and Southern Colorado to address forest health and watersheds. Water that originates in the project area serves drinking water to millions of people.

Last year, the Cimarron Watershed Alliance was awarded nearly $10 million for the Colfax Collaborative Wildland Urban Interface Project and Flying Horse Ranch Fuel Break Project. Both are within the Enchanted Circle Landscape.

“We’re not taking the foot off the gas,” said Rick Smith, the Cimarron Watershed Alliance’s executive director. “We’re going to continue going after as much funding as we can handle to continue forest restoration and wildfire risk reduction.”

“When it comes to overcoming the wildfire crisis in Northern New Mexico, it’s an all hands on deck effort,” said Forest Supervisor James Duran. “This work by partners helps realize our long-term goal to create resiliency, not just within Carson National Forest, but across boundaries throughout the area. We are going to continue to work with partners to continue finding ways to bring more capacity and funding to Northern New Mexico, especially for historically underrepresented communities.”

The Forest Service will announce a third Community Wildfire Defense Grant funding opportunity later this year.