Nonprofit and partners present draft Southwest New Mexico Community Forest Management Plan for Silver City

Allison Civic, executive director of the Healer Resources Information Project and project director for the Southwest New Mexico Community Forestry Network, presented the draft Silver City Community Forest Management Plan and a program update.

The five-year project, funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, covers six municipalities and aims to grow and care for urban forests to reduce heat, expand shade in priority neighborhoods, maintain legacy trees, and integrate green stormwater infrastructure. Civic outlined six stewardship areas in the plan (residential neighborhoods; arts/culture/tourism/community services; athletic facilities; urban corridors; natural landscapes/open spaces; and a cross-cutting stewardship objective) and cited priority locations such as Golf Park, Penny Park, Big Ditch Park, the visitor center and Little Walnut corridors.

Civic said the team completed a tree inventory and has an action plan for removals, stump grinding and replacement plantings; she noted contractor partnerships (Southwest Tree Solutions and Joey Franklin Owens) and coordination with Silver Consolidated Schools for on-campus work. Eric Guyer and Mel (Western New Mexico University) described workforce-training efforts and a planned arborist certificate program for 2026 to build local capacity.

"The plan is open for public review for 30 days through November 23rd," Civic told council; staff said the goal is to return a final plan for council approval at the Dec. 9 meeting.

Councilors and members of the public asked questions about removal recommendations, inventory findings, stormwater curb-cut examples and invasive-species planning. Civic said invasives were noted as an issue and that a maintenance/management plan and targeted grant-writing would be next steps. Council welcomed the plan's capacity-building and grant-writing prospects and thanked the project team for community coordination.