Senate committee backs joint memorial to study forest restoration and economic uses of timber

Senate Joint Memorial 1, which would direct the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department (EMNRD) and the Economic Development Department to convene a study on expediting forest restoration through economic development, received a do-pass recommendation from the Senate Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Committee.

The memorial’s sponsor, Senator Michael Padilla, described the proposal as a response to recent large wildfires and a means to link restoration with local job creation. “We need to get our hands around that,” Padilla said, adding the study should identify “efficient methods to utilize forest resources such as timber and biomass, promoting sustainable practices and reducing waste.”

The memorial directs the two agencies to jointly convene stakeholders and produce recommendations. William Foster, forest markets coordinator for the New Mexico State Forestry Division, told the committee the state forester supports the memorial. “She supports this memorial,” Foster said when asked about the agency’s position.

Supporters from the agriculture and local government sectors told the committee the approach could reduce wildfire risk while supporting rural economies. Jillian Joyce, representing the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union, said the group “strongly supports Senate Joint Memorial 1” and that sustainable forest management “reduces wildfire risk, improves watershed health, and strengthens our rural and land based economies.” Danielle Duran, intergovernmental affairs manager for Los Alamos County, said the county “deeply support[s] this memorial” because of local wildfire experience.

Several senators pressed for explicit language in the memorial’s report scope. Senator Silvia Lopez urged adding wildfire-risk reduction and sustainability to the study’s deliverables, saying she could not support the memorial if those concepts were omitted. Padilla and other committee members agreed to a friendly amendment to add “sustainable” language and to ask the study to recommend “what incentives, legal actions, and regulations are needed to ensure healthy forests that will reduce wildfire risk.”

Committee members also discussed workforce and industry capacity. William Foster said New Mexico faces a workforce pipeline challenge and slower timber growth compared with Pacific Northwest states, and he described initiatives to develop new forestry entrepreneurs and training partnerships with community colleges.

The memorial sets an internal deadline for the study report—referenced in committee discussion as September 1, 2025—and sponsors said they hoped recommendations would inform the 2026 legislative session. After amendment, the committee voted to advance the memorial.

The committee’s action directs EMNRD and the Economic Development Department to conduct the study; it does not itself appropriate funds or change regulations. The memorial now moves to the next procedural steps in the legislative process.