Families begin calculating the damage in aftermath of massive wildfire

PENDARIES — Max and Rachel Garcia stopped to survey the damage on a recent afternoon as they made their way past blackened pine trees.

A year after the Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak Fire, they are among the thousands of northern New Mexicans trying to calculate the damage.

But they had some help this summer as they examined topsoil erosion, a melted water tank and the scorched ponderosa pine trees on their property.

A small team from the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service estimated the cost of restoring some of what they’d lost — soil damage, dead trees and other environmental and agricultural losses.

The federal team — experts who normally provide technical assistance to farmers — was on hand to survey the damage and go over documents the Garcias can use when they submit a claim for payment from the new Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon Claims Office, which was established through legislation authorized by Congress.

Through June 30, Rachel Garcia estimated the family had received only about $9,000 in compensation for the devastation wrought by the massive fire, which started as two U.S. Forest Service prescribed burns that grew out of control.

But the recent estimate by the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service, federal officials contend, could accelerate the approvals needed to get them more cash.

The Garcias lost nearly everything but their house. Their land is now dotted with blackened pine trees. The skeletons of a burned-out greenhouse and solar panels sit on a hillside. And there are less-obvious signs of damage, such as erosion and changes in how stormwater flows through their property.

Putting a dollar figure on the losses isn’t necessarily easy.

But Max Garcia said he has come to trust the expertise of the conservation service.

“I have total confidence,” he said as he walked through his land. “They’re very helpful, and their heart is in the right place.”

Potential limitations

Antonia Roybal-Mack, an attorney who grew up in Mora and has sued the U.S. Forest Service in connection with the fire, said the assessments offered by the Natural Resources Conservation Service have some limitations.

The plans are intended to assess current damages, she said, but some properties will face flooding danger for years, requiring more remediation in the future.

The assessments, Roybal-Mack said, may also raise interesting legal questions if litigation ensues.

“I am curious how a jury would accept the figures as evidence prepared by one government agency (NRCS) on how another government agency harmed you (Forest Service) for yet a third government agency to pay you (FEMA),” she said in a written response to Journal questions.

But Roybal-Mack also said the conservation service offers some valuable programs for landowners.

“I do have to say if there is any organization that has been straight shooters in this process,” she said, “it has been the NRCS.”

‘Don’t look up’

The team from the Natural Resources Conservation Service on a recent afternoon helped the Garcias develop a plan to rehabilitate the landscape.

Rachel and Max Garcia joined Eddie Foster, an area resource conservationist for the NRCS, as he peered at topsoil and discussed how to care for the land.

The conservation service is one part of the federal government’s strategy for getting aid to victims of the Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak Fire, the largest wildfire in the state’s recorded history.

Members of New Mexico’s congressional delegation blasted federal emergency officials earlier this year for delays in getting money to families who need it.

In a May letter to emergency managers, U.S. Sens. Ben Ray Luján and Martin Heinrich and Congresswoman Teresa Leger Fernández said the failure to finalize regulations for compensation had caused “confusion and uncertainty among fire victims, leading to delays in providing justice to our communities.”

The partnership between the Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon Claims Office is part of the federal government’s strategy to move more quickly.

But the conservation service is only one piece. The agency is equipped to calculate damage to livestock wells and vegetation — not, say, a home.

Nevertheless, it’s an option for landowners. More than 300 applications for help from the NRCS have been filed.

Applications trigger a site visit by conservation service staff to survey damage and estimate the cost of restoration.

The work of the conservation service is pre-approved by the Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon Claims Office, a feature intended to help streamline the review of claims for reimbursement.

In a recent interview, Max Garcia said he was initially reluctant to accept help from another government agency, figuring it would just add to the bureaucracy he and Rachel Garcia are trying to navigate in the aftermath of the fire.

But he said he now appreciates the agency’s help.

The Garcias, both federal retirees, live in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, just five to six miles from where the Hermits Peak and Calf Canyon fires merged into one hellish blaze.

Hillsides are starting to look green again — in patches — but there’s little shade cast by the blackened trees.

“If you look across the valley,” Rachel Garcia said, “the grasses are growing really nice — just don’t look up at the trees.”

She said she remains hopeful the pre-approval of NRCS damage estimates will accelerate their compensation process.

“They don’t have to question anything,” she said. “They don’t have to argue.”

Like many New Mexicans, she and Max are waiting.