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The group was awarded $360,000 for a three-year proposal to work on closing some roads and creating fire breaks near communities in the Coyote Ranger District of the Santa Fe National Forest WildEarth Guardians, the Santa Fe-based nonprofit environmental organization known for battling in court over U.S. Forest Service projects, garnered one of the agency's collaborative forest-restoration grants this year. The group was awarded $360,000 for a three-year proposal to work on closing some roads and creating fire breaks near communities in the Coyote Ranger District of the Santa Fe National Forest. The group will work with Coyote District Forest Service staff members, the Coyote community and local tree-thinning contractors, according to its proposal. "WildEarth Guardians is excited to contribute in watershed restoration and demonstrate our commitment to forest-based jobs in Northern New Mexico," said Bryan Bird, WildEarth Guardians' forest-project coordinator. "This groundbreaking opportunity is the result of several years of planning and outreach by the Santa Fe National Forest and its staff in Coyote." The WildEarth Guardians plan is one of 27 restoration-grant projects the Santa Fe National Forest will oversee. A committee reviews grant proposals each April. Collaborative Forest Restoration Grants were established in 2000 by Congress for New Mexico. Projects funded under the grants must involve a variety of stakeholders from forest communities, provide local jobs, restore watersheds and reduce hazards from forest fires. Other three-year grants awarded this year went to: ▪ Velasquez Logging in Youngsville, N.M.: $360,000 to treat 300 acres in the Mesa Poleo Wildland Urban Interface of the Coyote Ranger District. An estimated 50 to 200 tons per acre of usable, small-diameter timber will be harvested to provide jobs for the local community and education and outreach to 40 local high-school students. ▪ La Jicarita Enterprise Community in Mora: $360,000 to treat 200 acres of the Upper Mora Watershed in the Walker Flats area of the Pecos/Las Vegas Ranger District. La Jicarita will hire local thinning contractors to use the harvested material for wholesale vigas, latillas, posts and chipped material for biomass fuel. ▪ Santa Clara Pueblo: $359,656 to study, design and build a wood biomass-heating system for 35 new homes in Santa Clara's South Housing subdivision. The system will use 210 cords annually of small-diameter trees and slash from ongoing forest-fuels-reduction projects in the pueblo's Santa Clara Canyon. ▪ Ohkay Owingeh: $359,966 to restore 157 acres of Ohkay Owingeh and Tesuque Pueblo bosque land along the Rio Grande and Rio Tesuque. The project also will monitor songbird populations before and after treatment to gather data intended to help minimize disruptions to bird populations and maximize the benefits of restoring lands near water. ▪ University of Arizona: $321,132 for a forest-thinning and watershed-restoration project near Hyde State Park that is undergoing environmental review by the Santa Fe National Forest. Contact Staci Matlock at 986-3055 or smatlock@sfnewmexican.com. Copyright 2006 New Mexican - Reprinted with permission |
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