Santa Fe New Mexican

Plans for new pumps spark fears of south-side truck stop

Official says prescribed fire necessary to protect watershed expected to begin Sunday

- By Olivia Harlow oharlow@sfnewmexic­an.com

If conditions prove favorable, Santa Fe National Forest fire managers plan to conduct a prescribed burn this weekend within the Santa Fe Municipal Watershed. With the first day of fall arriving Saturday, officials say the air quality and moisture levels could be ideal for a burn on two areas totaling 950 acres of the watershed near the city of Santa Fe’s Nichols and McClure reservoirs. One area is northeast of the Nichols Reservoir, and the other is just south of the McClure Reservoir. The burn is expected to start Sunday.

The goal, forest officials say, is to clear dead brush and prevent a high-intensity fire from sparking in the watershed following a fire season that was expected to be one of the worst in recent years after months of warm, dry weather that put much of the state back in drought conditions.

The forest, which closed for five months this year, avoided a major fire and then saw a robust monsoon that brought heavy flooding to some areas.

Still, the drought is not over, said Andrew Church, a meteorolog­ist with the National Weather Service in Albuquerqu­e.

“We still need widespread moisture,” Church said. “There are still a lot of places that are in severe drought because of their precipitat­ion deficits. It’ll still be a while before we’re drought-free [statewide], but we’re heading in the right direction.”

Good news for snow-sports enthusiast­s: Church expects “above average precipitat­ion” this winter.

Bruce Hill, a spokesman for Santa Fe National Forest, said Sunday’s burn is necessary to preserve the nearly 18,000-acre watershed, which provides 40 percent of the water supply for city residents.

“When you treat areas that are near watersheds, it creates a level of protection for those areas,” Hill said.

A forest news release on the burn says smoke likely will be visible from Santa Fe, Tesuque, Glorieta, Pecos Canyon, Eldorado and Interstate 25. Smoke might settle into lower elevations overnight, the release says, and could linger for up to a week.

Hill said lack of rain doesn’t necessaril­y mean conditions are unsafe for burning.

“Even in drought,” he said, “you can still have moisture levels that are conducive for prescribed burns.”

Too much water can be problemati­c, he added.

According to the National Weather Service, Santa Fe received about a quarter-inch to a halfinch of rain Wednesday night and Thursday morning.

While the rainfall could help restore droughtstr­icken land, Hill said it might affect plans for this weekend’s burn.

Church said it’s unlikely the rainfall would be enough to cancel the burn.

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 ?? ELAYNE LOWE/THE NEW MEXICAN ?? The Santa Fe River was at about a foot deep Friday as it flowed across the Santa Fe Municipal Watershed. While prescribed burns don’t increase the total possible amount of water for the watershed, Alan Hook, with the city of Santa Fe’s water division, said burns enhance the quality of the water and overall health of the ecology.
ELAYNE LOWE/THE NEW MEXICAN The Santa Fe River was at about a foot deep Friday as it flowed across the Santa Fe Municipal Watershed. While prescribed burns don’t increase the total possible amount of water for the watershed, Alan Hook, with the city of Santa Fe’s water division, said burns enhance the quality of the water and overall health of the ecology.

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