Report on climate change, drought, and the health of New Mexico's forests
For East Mountain residents concerned about drought throughout the state, and what it could mean for our local forests and woodlands, new data suggests that dry conditions and pest infestation could continue to be a problem in 2021.
After significant aerial and ground surveying, the state's Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resources Department (EMNRD) Forestry Division released its 2020 NM Forest Health Conditions Report on April 19.
According to the report, though overall forest mortality declined from 2019 to 2020, non-lethal damage to woodlands increased dramatically. In total, the amount of acreage of forest with insect, disease, and drought-stress damage on both state and private lands increased 9%.
The EMNRD report includes evidence of increased bark beetle-induced piñon and ponderosa pine mortality within communities like Tijeras and Edgewood, and around Santa Fe.
This evidence comes at the same time that drought conditions intensified and temperatures rose above average across the state.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Division (NOAA) reports that 2020 was the second hottest year on record, and the fourth driest. With the world’s seven hottest years all occurring since 2014, drought conditions could continue to rise annually across the world.
According to the EMNRD report, drought and warming temperatures have been linked to increased tree death. Whether the trees die as a direct result of insufficient water, or conditions that are simply too warm, they are made more susceptible to colonization by pests.
Trees with insufficient supplies of water cannot produce the pitch, or sap, necessary to resist invasive beetle species or fight off pathogens.
Data in the report states that, in January of 2020, only 50% of New Mexico was experiencing water shortages. By December, 100% of the state was experiencing some degree of drought.
According to the National Integrated Drought Information System, Santa Fe and surrounding counties remain at a D4 drought intensity, which is the highest category. This classification corresponds to an area experiencing vast crop and pasture losses, fire risk, dry river beds, and emergency water shortages.
Though a primary drought concern is fire, the EMNRD report states that “insects kill more trees in the United States than ... wildfire.”
For instance, 90% of annual tree death in New Mexico is due to bark beetles, according to the report.
For communities east of the Sandias, the principle destroyer of trees is the Ponderosa Pine Bark Beetle.
The report states that although the number of acres of woodlands across the state with mapped bark beetle damage did decrease 30% from 2019 to 2020, acres mapped with ponderosa and aspen deaths increased more than 100%.
The increase in ponderosa deaths was caused by bark beetle-related activity. The rise in aspen deaths was the result of “a combination of drought, root diseases, chronic [leaf loss], and other factors,” the report says.
In addition to invasive beetle species that could ultimately kill trees, the report also discusses the problems with defoliation, or the removal of leaves from plants.
As per the EMNRD report, defoliation rarely kills trees in any single season, but continuous defoliation activity “can result in growth loss, crown dieback, and in some instances, tree death.”
Defoliation also weakens trees and can predispose them to attack by bark beetles or pathogens.
Across the state, defoliation increased 33%. This can be attributed to an uptick in activity by the western spruce budworm, western tent caterpillar, large aspen tortrix, and ponderosa needleminer.
The majority of the defoliation observed in areas around the Carson and Santa Fe national forests is due primarily to the diet of the western spruce budworm. This defoliation is evident through orange color in the foliage of firs and spruces, and was detected in over 296,000 acres across the state last year.
The report also noted approximately 36,000 acres of ponderosa pines yellowing from “an unknown agent” throughout Mora, Colfax, Cibola, and San Miguel counties.
Ground checks found that the older needles within the canopy were yellowing months before they normally would, which is indicative of severe drought stress.
The EMNRD report concluded by stating that the National Weather Service predicts the “severe drought conditions in New Mexico will persist well into 2021.” Persisting droughts will increase deforestation.
According to climatologists, without substantial forests to absorb carbon emissions, those emissions are released into the atmosphere, which compounds the greenhouse effect that’s currently warming the planet.
Steps to keep the climate crisis at bay could include protecting natural ecosystems, sustainably managing and reestablishing forests, and reevaluating current forest thinning and slash management strategies.
Interested parties are encouraged to contact their local Forestry Division district to develop strategies that could lessen or prevent potentially serious consequences of the warming climate.
To read the report, visit emnrd.state.nm.us/sfd/fwhplan/doc uments/2020nmforesthealthreport.f INAL.PDF.
To see an interactive dashboard where you can click on a pie piece of deforestation to see where it’s happening, visit nm-emnrd.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/ebd89d69f53a 42e0b4743333fb1b645c.
The State Forestry Division is online at emnrd.state.nm.us/sfd/.