WildEarth Guardians

Monday, December 6, 2004
Citizens Propose Plan to Restore Forests in Manzanos: Proposal Counters First U.S. Forest Service Project in New Mexico to Imple

A coalition of homeowners and environmental groups has asked the Cibola National Forest to consider an alternative proposal to restore forests in the Manzano Mountains that would not require logging and road building
Contact: WildEarth Guardians

TAJIQUE, NM - Dec. 6. A coalition of homeowners and environmental groups has asked the Cibola National Forest to consider an alternative proposal to restore forests in the Manzano Mountains that would not require logging and road building. The homeowners, each of whom live on private land within the boundaries of the Cibola National Forest, have proposed the alternative because they are strongly opposed to the draft Forest Service plan.

The homeowners and WildEarth Guardians presented the Citizen’s Alternative today to the Forest Service in a meeting with officials from the Mountainair Ranger District of the Cibola National Forest. The Cibola National Forest is expected to release the draft plan for the Tajique Healthy Forest Restoration Act (HFRA) Project in the coming days. The HFRA of 2003 (Public Law 108-148) is a highly controversial new statute passed by Congress and signed by President Bush in a state of hysteria following the shocking wildfires in southern California late in the summer of 2003.

“We have many concerns that haven't been sufficiently addressed in the current Tajique HFRA. When taken together, the introduction of logging, large scale commercial thinning and controlled fires, cattle grazing, increased traffic and road building, may be a greater threat to our well being and property than the potential of a wildfire.” said Bud Latven, a 25 year resident of Tajique.

Because the Bush Administration law is so contentious and the Tajique HFRA Project is the first of its kind in the state, the coalition has asked the Forest Service to exercise extreme prudence and to consider a fourth alternative: the Tajique Citizen’s Alternative.

“Constructing 30 miles of new roads into this already heavily roaded forest will only bring more problems including human ignited fires, worse water quality, and fragmented wildlife habitat.” said Paul Davis, a hydrologist and 30 year resident of Tajique.

At this time the agency’s alternatives are unacceptable to coalition of residents-residents who are supposed to be the primary beneficiaries of the logging project. In particular, the scale of the project, the inordinate road construction, the lack of any tree diameter cap, as well as the haphazard application of tree cutting prescriptions driven by economics rather than ecological conditions are considered significant obstacles for community agreement and project implementation.

“This new Bush Administration law cuts out the public and uses fire hysteria to increase logging and roadbuilding in our public forests. The Forest Service needs to join us in the 21st century and consider new, scientific alternatives such as training locals to be highly skilled fire managers.” said Bryan Bird of WildEarth Guardians.

The citizens of the Tajique watershed are directly and immediately affected because the project will adversely affect their drinking water supply, scenery, fire risk and traditional use and enjoyment of the watershed.

The Tajique Watershed Citizen’s Alternative includes the following:

1. No new road construction;

2. No landscape level logging or thinning;

3. 12” d.b.h. diameter cap;

4. 9” diameter cap within Mexican spotted owl activity centers and northern goshawk territories;

5. Retire grazing allotments in the planning area (grazing reduces grasses which previously fueled frequent, low-intensity surface fires and normally compete with pine seedling establishment and the removal of livestock is necessary for a successful restoration of historic vegetation structure and natural processes);

6. Increase law enforcement presence, especially after business hours to prevent tree and animal poaching;

7. Develop a pre and post-project monitoring plan for wildlife, soil impacts and water quality and other resource concerns;

8. Create a citizen oversight committee to work with the USFS in integrating monitoring information into an adaptive management plan;

9. Fuel Breaks and defensible spaces based on landscape features and weather patterns (e.g. location of past lightening strikes and fires, past thinnings, prevailing wind directions, and location of private dwellings, etc, etc.).

10. Contour felling of all cut trees over 6” d.b.h (limbed trees be placed perpendicular to the slope, set into the soil, staked on the downhill side and arranged on a shingle pattern): trees under 6” d.b.h. will be piled and burned; and,

11. Limit fires to wildland fire use ('managed' naturally occurring wildfires).

The Tajique residents who, in conjunction with WildEarth Guardians, are putting forth the citizen’s alternative include: Bud Latven, Caroline Orcutt, Kaz Latven, Lisa Latven, Paul Davis, M.J. Davis, Jan Moore, Jo Moore, Elaine Sanchez, John Falvey, Winifred S. Devlin, Mike Cerwinka, Elizabeth Cerwinka, Ron Daveler, Dawn Daveler, David Fritz, Stefa Zawerucha, Tom Chancey, John Davis and Elise Johnston.