Taos County reports $2.25M spent on forest treatments; officials warn of an early, intense 2025 fire season

Taos County officials reported Jan. 28 on recent and planned wildfire risk-reduction and watershed protection work across the county, describing community-led fuel reduction projects, workforce development and monitoring programs and warning that the 2025 fire season could be early and severe.

JR Logan, the county's forest and watershed health program manager, described a program grounded in the county's 2022 Community Wildfire Protection Plan and funded through a mix of state and federal grants and agreements. "The blueprint . . . can really be described in the 2022 Taos County Community Wildfire Protection Plan," Logan said.

Logan said the county has spent roughly $2.25 million on treatments from several funding sources and expected about $2.7 million in additional funding available over the next year. He said the program and partners have completed treatments on about 26,100 acres to date and are focusing on strategic corridors and community interfaces rather than treating every acre.

The presentation emphasized partnerships and local workforce opportunities. Vicente Fernandez and other land grant mayordomos described community programs that recruit local residents to thin units of forest and deliver cut wood to neighbors. Fernandez said those projects have both cultural and practical aims: "We took down a lot of the ladder trees . . . Watershed is a lifeblood of the agricultural community," he said.

Contractor Jamie Tedesco, owner of Woodsharks, described local contracting that has supported dozens of acres of thinning and erosion-control work and explained a common local technique: "We've opted in many instances to do what they call lop and scatter," he said, adding that this method can "slow sink and spread the water." Tedesco said his firm has provided local seasonal jobs and buys equipment locally.

Community groups are participating. Ellen Ebersole of the Turley Mill Homeowners Association described an upcoming fuel-break project along the sole access road to a nearly one-way-in, one-way-out subdivision. "It will make it safer in many, many ways," she said, adding the project will support homeowner maintenance, erosion control and water retention.

The county also highlighted a youth monitoring program run by the Taos Soil and Water Conservation District that trains students to collect ecological monitoring data used by the Carson National Forest. A representative said the program aims to create local career pathways in natural-resources work while producing data to track long-term treatment impacts.

Logan warned of an accelerated season: fuel dryness indicators show much higher-than-normal dryness for late winter and early spring, and national forecasts indicate significant wildfire potential in New Mexico by April unless conditions change. "This is gonna be a buckle-up kind of fire season," Logan said.

Why it matters: The county is using a combination of federal good neighbor agreements, state grants and legislative appropriations to fund targeted forest health work intended to reduce wildfire risk to communities and watersheds. Officials emphasized homeowner preparedness and local participation in treatments and monitoring.

Ending: County staff said they do not seek additional action from commissioners at this time but will continue to coordinate funded projects, local contractors, land grants, volunteer crews and youth monitoring in the months ahead.