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BLM Tres Rios field office reports prescribed burn work, staffing changes and expedited NEPA guidance
Summary
A Bureau of Land Management Tres Rios Field Office representative told San Miguel County commissioners the office completed more than 1,000 pile burns in Dawson Draw, plans further prescribed broadcast burns pending NEPA adequacy review, and is monitoring expedited NEPA guidance for some energy projects.
Derek Padilla, field manager for the Bureau of Land Management's Tres Rios Field Office, briefed the San Miguel County Board of County Commissioners on May 14 about wildfire‑risk mitigation, mineral‑field work and staffing changes.
Padilla said crews burned well over 1,000 piles in the Dawson Draw area over the winter and are evaluating broadcast (landscape) prescribed burns under a NEPA adequacy process so they can conduct larger burns in the fall or spring. "Over the winter, we were able to burn, well over a thousand piles out in the Dawson Draw area," Padilla said. He added the office will prepare additional NEPA analyses this summer to allow broader broadcast burning next fall.
On mineral‑estate work, Padilla said American Helium (the company that purchased Paradox Resources assets) has been addressing infrastructure and environmental concerns at its field and is not yet producing but is working toward compliance. He described replacement of aging tanks, well assessments and pipeline integrity checks.
Padilla also told commissioners that two employees used a federal deferred resignation program, reducing Tres Rios staff by two out of about 35 positions; a hiring freeze remains in effect until at least July. Commissioners and residents pressed him about recent Department of Interior guidance to expedite NEPA for certain energy projects. Padilla said his field office had not yet seen such project requests but confirmed Interior has directed an expedited pathway (14‑day public comment, 28‑day decision window) for FAST‑41 projects and said the shorter schedule would be a substantial compression from the roughly six‑month to one‑year timeframe typical for larger federal reviews.
Star Jamieson, the county's natural resources and climate resiliency director, asked whether travel‑management or new plans of operation were imminent; Padilla said the office had received a small number of plans of operations for review but nothing finalized.
Padilla concluded by thanking the county and calling out collaborative projects on abandoned mine lands and Department of Energy work on defense‑related uranium mine hazards.
