Deal gives locals shot at forest restoration work
‘Back to our roots’
For the last three years, the buzz of chainsaws has droned over the San Cristóbal valley as part of a major Forest Service thinning project to protect the area from wildfire. But for the first time, the people running those saws are all from Northern New Mexico.
“The Forest Service has been having success with the out-of-town guys for a long time,” said Mark Schuetz, owner of the thinning business Watershed Dynamics. “We feel honored that the agencies have heard us and opened the door to this.”
In a normal year, Schuetz tries to keep his Taos Countybased thinning crew busy by piecing together one- or two-acre thinning jobs around homes on private land. It’s important work, but it can be inconsistent and hard to keep crew members busy.
As part of the current Forest Service project, his company took on 60 acres — enough to keep an eight-person crew busy for several weeks straight. Since the start of October, more than 20 people from Taos and Mora counties have earned a living in the woods, doing work on a project that protects forests and water. At a time when COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on the job market, crew members have included everyone from off-season wildland firefighters to laid off roofers and restaurant employees together.
“This unique collaboration has provided local community members meaningful jobs while helping reduce fire danger in our surrounding environments and simultaneously enhancing wildlife habitat,” said Jamie Tedesco, owner of Wood Sharks, another Taos County thinning contractor working on the project. “It’s a win-win.”
Until this year, almost all Forest Service thinning work has gone to out-of-state companies that hire cheap labor and have the know-how to navigate the complexities of the federal bidding and contracting systems. This status quo approach has gotten work
‘It’s finding ways that local people, especially the younger generation, have a hand in stewardship of these lands.”
accomplished on the ground, but it’s left capable locals sitting on the sidelines.
But that’s changing. This year, the New Mexico Forest Industry Association and the Carson National Forest signed an agreement that makes it easier for locals to get a piece of the action. The association is a nonprofit advocacy group that promotes forest health and community-based economic development across the state. The organization is focused on promoting professionalism, safety and best practices for forest restoration and sustainable timber harvesting to protect communities and watersheds.
Under the newly inked agreement with the Carson, the association commits to complete thinning on large swaths of Forest Service lands. It then turns around and
bids out those acres in bite-sized pieces that the local pro crews can take on. There are currently three local crews working on a 120-acre unit near San Cristóbal. The agreement includes another 450 acres worth of work that has yet to be bid out, with the potential to add more acres in the future.
About half of Taos County is made up of Forest Service lands, and a big chunk of that forest is in dire need of restoration work. For years, local leaders have recognized that the sheer volume of restoration needs on federal lands held the potential for some kind economic development. The 2017 Taos County Comprehensive Plan specifically called for fostering “restoration-based resource management,” including sustainable forestry. Similarly, the 2016 Taos County Community Wildfire
Protection Plan dedicates an entire portion of its “goals and objectives” to bolstering the capacity of local thinning and forestry contractors as a way to simultaneously improve forest health while creating local jobs.
The work happening right now south of San Cristóbal is tangible proof of progress toward those goals.
“These guys have the skills to get the job done, but it takes a lot more work to get through the federal bureaucracy,” said Kim Kostelnik, a technical advisor to the New Mexico Forest Industry Association who helped make the agreement with the Carson a reality. “Under this agreement, NMFIA takes on the administrative burden, and these contractors get the chance to build up their capacity.”
Working in the woods is, of course, nothing new to longtime Northern New Mexicans. Firewood gathering and woodcutting is an ancient practice that remains a favorite pastime, and most locals have been running a chainsaw their entire lives. By finding creative ways to give locals more access to a steady supply of work, the hope is that a new restoration
ERICA ENJADY
Forestry and Fuels Program Manager for the Carson National Forest
industry may actually be taking hold.
“We’re very interested in finding opportunities to support our local contractors, and this agreement helps us continue improving the overall health of our forests while using locals to treat the land,” said Erica Enjady, Forestry and Fuels Program Manager for the Carson National Forest, and a key player in getting the NMFIA agreement in place. “It’s going back to our roots. It’s finding ways that local people, especially the younger generation, have a hand in stewardship of these lands.”
J.R. Logan is the Taos County Wildland-Urban Interface Coordinator and manager of several forest restoration projects that promote ecosystem health, traditional uses and economic development in Northern New Mexico. To learn more about the forest restoration and wildfire risk reduction in Taos County, visit taoscountywildfire.org.