New Mexico senators ask for post-fire money to clean up public lands

As the state faces a dry winter, New Mexico’s U.S. senators are pushing for emergency funds to remove hazardous fuels from federally owned public lands in the state.

“Repairing the wildfire damages to national parks, national forests and Bureau of Land Management lands is vital for the safety and economies of the entire country,” Democratic Sens. Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Luján wrote in a letter to U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee leadership — Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Patty Murray, D-Wash. 

The letter was led by Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., and supported by seven other Democratic senators. It asked that any emergency disaster appropriations bills drafted this year include money for wildfire recovery on federal lands.

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funds do not cover damage to federal lands. Instead, land agencies pay for fire cleanup and restoration costs. The mitigation work for ehich the senators want money includes removing hazard trees, road and bridge assessment, structural replacements and trail repairs. 

The letter points out that many western states experienced fires on federal lands this year, including the Gila National Forest in New Mexico. There were at least seven fires in the Gila National Forest and Gila Wilderness Area from May through November this year.

The Turkeyfeather Fire burned more than 24,000 acres and the Trout Fire burned over 47,000 acres, according to U.S. Forest Service news releases. Both were caused by lightning strikes.

Sens. Heinrich, Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., also led a letter asking Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz how prepared his agency is for wildfire risk reduction. The letter was signed by nine other Democratic senators, including Luján. 

“It is imperative that the Forest Service works closely with Congress to address shortfalls in wildfire mitigation and ensure staffing and budgetary resources are sufficient to fulfill the agency’s mission,” the senators wrote. 

A report from the nonprofit Grassroots Wildland Firefighters released in October found that the Forest Service was behind on mitigating the risk of wildfire through hazardous fuels reduction projects compared to previous calendar years. As of September in New Mexico, “the Forest Service has treated just 68,000 acres of national forestland — barely half (53%) of the average amount treated each of the previous four years,” the analysis said. 

USDA Forest Service spokesman John Winn took issue with the analysis, as in fiscal year 2025, which runs from October through September, the Forest Service “completed more than 3.25 million acres of hazardous fuels reduction work, over 90% of our target.”

“One metric alone doesn’t tell the story of what it takes to protect communities or rebuild healthier, more resilient forests. The truth is that this year was one of the most successful wildfire years in recent history,” Winn said in a statement. “Despite recording the highest number of wildfire starts on Forest Service lands since 2016, the agency held total acres burned to nearly half the 10-year average – a reduction of almost 1 million acres.”

The Forest Service also delivered a high level of post-fire restoration, including more than 285,000 acres of reforestation, Winn said.