Forest Service to begin long term recovery in Calf Canyon/Hermit's Peak

The Santa Fe National Forest is in the beginning stages of long-term recovery from the largest wildfire in New Mexico’s history, the Forest Service announced recently.

The project is open to public comment, and the Forest Service is seeking input from community members affected by the burn as well as federal, state, tribal and local agencies, the news release said.

For the past two years the Pecos/Las Vegas Ranger District has reseeded and replanted saplings in the burn scar, as well as worked to mitigate flood risk and remove hazardous trees. But the road to recovery is long.

The project is still in its planning phase, which the strategic planning officer of the project, Jennifer Cramer, hopes will be finished by spring.

More than two years ago, the U.S. Forest Service lost control of a prescribed burn west of Las Vegas. That fire, known as Hermits Peak, merged with another out-of-control prescribed burn, Calf Canyon, and formed the largest wildfire in New Mexico’s history. Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak ravaged northern New Mexico, burning 534 square miles and 900 structures in San Miguel, Mora and Taos counties.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is still processing claims from the fire and subsequent flooding more than two years later, the Journal reported.

While humans are working to build back after the blaze, nature is also hard at work. If you walk the burn scar now, you’ll see some areas that look the same as they did that summer they burned, Cramer said, while others have been freshly replanted with saplings.

You can submit a comment to the Forest Service through January, although they recommend submitting before Oct. 7. Letters can be submitted through mail or online.