25 years later: Efforts continue to restore the forest after devastating fire in Los Alamos
LOS ALAMOS, N.M. (KRQE) – Decades after a prescribed burn ripped through the Los Alamos mountainside, reshaping the landscape for generations, the forest has struggled to recover. While it will take decades, a conservationist group is helping to restore the area faster.
25 years later: A look back at the Cerro Grande Fire
Twenty-five years after it was put out, the effect of the Cerro Grande Fire remains. 'Some of the largest burned areas were two miles wide and seven miles long in the middle of those high-severity burn patches, the nearest tree was a mile away,' said Steven Bassett, Director of Conservancy Programs, Nature Conservancy of New Mexico.
In May 2000, an official spoke on the damage. 'In some cases, it's burned so hot that the ash is a foot deep or more, and in some places, the soil is sterilized and may even look like glass beads where the atomic bomb was first exploded.'
About 48,000 acres burned in the mountains around Los Alamos. 'The fires not only killed the trees, but they also burned the soil and the seeds that were in the soil so the forest had a tough time recuperating and still has a tough time recuperating,' said Basset.
While replanting can happen without human intervention, the destructive Cerro Grande Fire burned so hot that a natural process would take decades. 'Even with wind and water, and animals helping move those seeds into the burned area, it can take a very long time to see forest recovery, and then it's a very narrow band of the burned area close to that seed source,' said Basset.
So, how do you replant a massive forest after a devastating fire? The Nature Conservancy has spent years replanting tens of thousands of seedlings in the Cerro Grande burn scar. 'The practices that are standard elsewhere don't really work here. We have extremely high seedling mortality when we're planting trees, and germination of seeds that are planted as well are low,' said Bassett.
The state and the U.S. Forest Service are also ramping up seedling production for New Mexico with an expanded reforestation center in Mora, expected to eventually produce 5,000,000 seedlings per year. 'We're on the cutting edge of reforestation. We have experienced bad fires and we're also working together to build back from them… they're… a fact of life here in New Mexico and we have to do our best to prepare for them and respond to them when they happen,' said Bassett.
To learn more about the Nature Conservancy and its projects in New Mexico, click this link.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Librarian at The University of New Mexico works to install telehealth booths in libraries
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) — A University of New Mexico librarian is working to expand health care in rural parts of New Mexico. One way she's doing so is by installing telehealth booths in public libraries. Story continues below Community:ABQ bus driver speaks out on her experience of safety issues on Central route News:Homeland Security: 11 people arrested at New Mexico dairy were 'undocumented' Trending:Mexican gray wolf Asha gives birth to litter of pups Food: Two Albuquerque restaurants make Yelp's 'Top 50 Cheap Eats' list Deirdre Caparoso is the outreach and community engagement librarian in UNM's Health Sciences Library and Informatics Center. She's been working with New Mexico State Library to coordinate purchasing, installation, and staff training for four telehealth booths, according to the University of New Mexico. The booths are basically small, standalone rooms that are private and soundproof. They all have a computer connected to the library's internet, and they're free for library patron usage. Booths are big enough to fit two or three people and they have a ramp for wheelchair accessibility. To use a booth, visitors should contact their libraries directly as policies may vary. 'There are a lot of digital inequities in this state,' she said. 'We still have a lot of communities that don't have access to any sort of high-speed Internet on a regular basis. But we do have a lot of public libraries—and public libraries have high-speed Internet.' The booths can also be used for increased privacy during telehealth sessions, such as for people meeting with mental health counselors or substance abuse counselors. The booths are currently open at Octavia Fellin Public Library in Gallup, Aztec Public Library in Aztec and Mescalero Community Library on the Mescalero Apache Reservation. A fourth one for Fort Sumner Public Library is planned. They hope to bring about 10 more booths in later fall and early 2026. You can read UNM's full news release here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
Researcher explains why earthquakes are rattling parts of New Mexico
NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – While you may think earthquakes are a rarity in New Mexico, think again. Dr. Urbi Basu, manager of the New Mexico Tech Seismological Observatory, said earthquakes regularly happen in the state. 'We regularly see earthquakes of magnitude ones or twos, so people don't feel it,' Basu explained. Basu said there are dozens and dozens of fault lines in the state. In fact, the Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources said that there are more than 160 quaternary faults — or faults that have been seen on the surface of the Earth — within the past 1.6 million years. Among the most prominent is the Rio Grande rift, which runs from central Colorado down to Chihuahua, Mexico. 'So, the Rio Grande rift, which is like a north-south trending rift along which is the Rio Grande Valley. So, that's a series of what we call normal faults, which is slowly extending in the east-west direction. So, we know a lot about these existing faults through several years of geologic mapping through the bureau,' Basu said. The rift follows the river, which played an important role in the development of the state. But according to Dr. Basu and research being conducted at New Mexico Tech, we're now seeing an increase in the amount of seismic activity. Quidditch meets robotics: How drone soccer at this Albuquerque school is inspiring students 'In the last four or five years, we have seen a rise in induced seismicity, which is earthquakes caused by human activity,' Basu explained. According to data from the seismology observatory, there have been more than 80 earthquakes measuring above 2.0 on the Richter scale between January 1 and May 31 of 2025 alone. Multiple academic studies have shown a direct link between hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, and an increase in earthquakes. Additionally, data from the U.S. Geological Survey found an increase in the number of quakes within a 100-mile radius of fracking sites throughout the southern half of the United States. 'That technique creates a lot of wastewater or salt water, which is reinjected back into the formations, shallow formations. And this injecting of water causes stress changes in existing faults. And that is kind of the main reasons of oil… and earthquakes,' Basu said. It's no surprise, then, that the southeastern part of the state is seeing far more seismic activity than other parts. However, considering the economic impact the oil and gas industry has on the state, it's unlikely the practice will stop any time soon. That's where active monitoring comes into play. 'They use our earthquake data and they create something called like the seismicity response areas, SRAs. So, if there is an earthquake 2.5 or higher, there are restrictions about how much disposal volumes can occur. Companies might have to lower their disposal volumes, stop injecting for a few days, or have to decide if they can inject there as well. So, our data is really important to help the state in creating all those regulations,' said Basu. The observatory currently has 16 monitoring stations throughout the state, with 11 located in the southeast. They plan to upgrade those stations in the near future, as well as add 15 additional monitoring stations statewide. 'Without having the stations, we would not know of a magnitude three earthquake in the Socorro area or the Albuquerque area. So we would not understand the hazard risk,' Basu explained. Dr. Basu said the USGS website features a 'Did You Feel It?' page where citizens can report incidents themselves, which will help scientists understand the effects of seismic activity on the community. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
Mexican gray wolf Asha gives birth to litter of pups
NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – Asha, a Mexican gray wolf caught wandering around New Mexico in 2023, gave birth to her first litter in mid-May, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently announced. Asha (wolf F2754) and her mate (wolf M1966) welcomed five Mexican wolf pups. She came to fame as a wandering wolf, making multiple trips outside the Mexican wolf recovery area. Asha was captured and paired with her mate at the Sevilleta Wolf Management Facility in New Mexico in December 2023 — a decision that some environmentalists disagreed with, saying it would have been better for the wolves to roam. 'Asha' the Mexican grey wolf featured in children's book The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said there are plans in place to release the full pack onto private land in New Mexico this summer. The announcement of Asha's litter came just days before the Arizona Game and Fish Department reported that the Mexican wolf fostering efforts for 2025 wrapped up. A total of 17 wolf pups were placed into wild dens across New Mexico and Arizona, six of which were fostered into a single den in Arizona and 11 into three different dens in New Mexico. 'The fostering program is achieving these goals faster than was predicted, with 21 of the 22 required fosters having reached breeding age,' Clay Crowder, assistant director with the Arizona Game and Fish Department, said in part in a news release. 'Also of note from the foster program is that we now have at least 13 fosters having produced 31 litters, all of which are important to contributing to the genetic health of the wild population. With these successes, we are approaching the criteria to begin evaluating potential downlisting of Mexican wolves.' The Mexican wolf is listed as endangered, and efforts to grow the population have been ongoing since 1998 in the two southwestern states. A 2024 population survey revealed a minimum of 286 Mexican wolves were distributed across New Mexico and Arizona. Fostering Mexican wolf pups from captivity into the wild helps manage the genetic diversity of the wild population and allows the pups to learn how to live successfully in the wild from an experienced pack, according to the Arizona Game and Fish Department. Since 2016, a total of 146 fostered pups have been introduced into wild dens The goal for 2025 was to place a larger number of pups into dens in Arizona, which was relatively successful, with twice as many pups going to Arizona compared to last year, the Arizona Game and Fish Department said in the news release. Conservationists worry Mexican grey wolves could be threatened by cuts to recovery programs U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Arizona Game and Fish Department, New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service, and the Saving Animals From Extinction program collaborated on the fostering effort. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
