Stick structures concern forest rangers

Dry wood in Santa Fe National Forest could intensify dangerous fires

SANTA FE — Mysterious stick structures that have popped up recently in the Santa Fe National Forest are stumping officials.

The national forest announced Friday that numerous “humanbuilt conical stick structures” have been erected near the Santa Fe ski area. Some are two stories tall — about 20 feet — and 20 feet or more in diameter, according to spokeswoman Julie Anne Overton.

Española Ranger District employees found out about the structures when they went into the woods with a volunteer who showed them seven or eight of the stick tepees off Tesuque Peak Road at Aspen Vista.

At least 10 more are below the Aspen Vista picnic area, and some have been seen on the Windsor Trail and in the Big Tesuque drainage.

Officials are worried that the structures, some of them made with hundreds of individual sticks or logs, pose a fire danger.

“The wood is seasoned and dry, and the design is similar to a classic kindling pyramid but on a much larger scale,” Overton wrote in a news release. “And to exacerbate the obvious fire danger, people appear to be using fire rings inside many of the structures.” But Overton said there’s no evidence people are living in them.

What about Bigfoot, whose fans often post pictures of “Bigfoot tepees?”

“That was one of the theories someone posted on the SFNF Facebook page,” Overton said.

But the structures are no joke. If they catch fire, the resulting

flames could be a disaster for nearby homes and Santa Fe’s watershed.

“A high-severity fire in this popular recreation corridor would have catastrophic consequences not only for the Santa Fe National Forest, but for the Pueblo of Tesuque, the Santa Fe Municipal Watershed and residents in nearby neighborhoods,” Española District Ranger Sandy Hurlocker said in the news release.

The building of the structures in a national forest violates federal regulations and is punishable with up to $10,000 in fines and six months in prison, according to the Forest Service.

People can report these structures and their approximate location to the Santa Fe National Forest at 505-438-5300 or any of the ranger district offices.

EDDIE MOORE/JOURNAL Chuck Waldron, from Austin, Texas, walks by three of the stick structures that have been erected near the Aspen Vista picnic area in the Santa Fe National Forest above Santa Fe. The U.S. Forest Service said the structures are fire hazards.

EDDIE MOORE/ JOURNAL Fire pits like this one have been used inside several stick tepee structures that have been built in the Santa Fe National Forest near Santa Fe.