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Southwest Jemez Mountains Restoration: FAQs
Home | Southwest Jemez Mountains Restoration Home

1. Who is leading this forest landscape restoration planning effort and who will be involved?

2. Why here, why now?

3. What is the role of Title IV of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009, also called the “Forest Landscape Restoration Act (FLRA)”?

4. What is the collaborative forest restoration planning process expected to achieve?

5. What type of collaborative process is anticipated?

6. When will Title IV/FLRA be funded, and when can you implement a Title IV-funded project?

7. When will the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) planning process occur for proposed treatment actions in the SW Jemez Mountains?

8. What is forest restoration, and what are forest restoration treatments?

9. How is restoration forestry different from what you’ve done in the past?

1. Who is leading this forest landscape restoration planning effort and who will be involved?

The Forest Service, Valles Caldera Trust, New Mexico Forest and Watershed Restoration Institute, and The Nature Conservancy have partnered to lead a collaborative planning process to develop a cross-jurisdictional landscape-scale forest restoration strategy. Adjacent land managers have joined in as key collaborators in development of this landscape restoration strategy, including Pueblo of Jemez, Pueblo of Santa Clara, Bandelier National Monument, and Los Alamos National Lab. Other key collaborators include Bureau of Indian Affairs-Southern Pueblos, State Forestry, Sandoval County, Firewise community associations, New Mexico Forest Industry Association, State Game and Fish, US Fish and Wildlife Service, WildEarth Guardians, Forest Guild, and several other conservation and wildlife groups, government agencies, ecological research scientists, and several individuals interested in restoring these lands. The planning processes are open to anyone who chooses to participate. Use the Participation Interest Form and Join the Mailing List if you wish to participate or stay informed.

2. Why here, why now?

This southwestern portion of the Jemez Mountains in the Jemez River Watershed stands out as a top priority for landscape-scale forest restoration. A majority of these lands consist of historically fire-adapted forest ecosystems that have significantly departed from their historic condition. These forests are at high risk of uncharacteristic fires that could cause serious damage to water, wildlife habitat and other natural and cultural resources, as well as to many communities within the area. Statewide the Jemez River watershed was ranked as a watershed in most urgent need of restoration. The Sandoval County Community Wildfire Protection Plan ranked it as a top priority for reducing crown fire risk. New Mexico State Forestry recently ranked it as a top priority for the Statewide Assessment. Santa Fe National Forest assessments have similarly found this area to be a top priority for restoration of fire-adapted ecosystems and water quality protection. The Jemez River is part of the middle Rio Grande basin that supplies water to the Albuquerque/Rio Rancho area. The Cerro Grande Fire near Los Alamos is an example of the type of uncharacteristic fire we are trying to avoid. A restoration strategy would try to create conditions where fire can play its historic ecological role in sustaining forest ecosystems and watershed functions. We are at high risk of losing much of the forest in this area to catastrophic wildfire, and with it, the variety of ecological and social values the forest provides.

3. What is the role of Title IV of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009, also called the “Forest Landscape Restoration Act (FLRA)”?

The Title IV/FLRA is considered ground-breaking federal land management legislation that promotes the collaborative, science-based ecosystem restoration of priority forest landscapes. It is based on the success of the 2000 Community Forest Restoration Act in New Mexico (short title for Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000, Title VI, Public Law 106-393). Similar to New Mexico’s Forest Restoration Act, Title IV/FLRA encourages “ecological, economic, and social sustainability” and utilization of “forest restoration byproducts” to benefit local rural economies and improve forest health.

4. What is the collaborative forest restoration planning process expected to achieve?

Based on criteria in Title IV/FLRA, a landscape-scale forest restoration Strategy will be developed. The Strategy will identify and prioritize 10-years of treatment actions to “reduce the risk of uncharacteristic wildfire, improve fish and wildlife habitat, and maintain or improve water quality and watershed function”. Treatments must also help control invasive plant populations, maintain or decommission existing roads and trails, maximize retention of large trees and old growth stands, and include utilization of woody biomass and small-diameter trees as by-products. The Strategy will incorporate the use of best available science. Additionally, the Strategy will be based on recent comprehensive Assessments of Existing Conditions involving forest and watershed ecosystems and the departures from historic reference conditions.

5. What type of collaborative process is anticipated?

The Strategy must be developed through a collaborative process that is transparent and nonexclusive, and include stakeholders representing diverse interests as well as participation by state, local and tribal governments. The Strategy must also include records of past successful collaborative forest restoration planning and implementation. Notably for this region of New Mexico, many similar collaborative processes have occurred that involved development of forest restoration principles and treatment strategies.  The lead agencies expect participation in this collaboration effort to include several of the same local scientists, organizations and agencies that participated in previous forest restoration planning efforts, and will maintain an open-door policy for anyone who wishes to participate.

6. When will Title IV/FLRA be funded, and when can you implement a Title IV-funded project?

It is anticipated that in spring or summer of 2010, there will be a request for FLRA proposals, and we will submit a forest landscape restoration proposal (and strategy) for the SW Jemez Mountains. Proposals will be screened and selected a Forest Service Regional Forester, and the Regional Foresters can each submit two proposals to the national selection committee. Regionally nominated proposals will be evaluated by an advisory panel of experts in “ecological restoration, fire ecology, fire management, rural economic development, strategies for ecological adaptation to climate change, fish and wildlife ecology, and woody biomass and small-diameter tree utilization”. Selected proposals will receive FLRA funds of up to $4 million annually, to add to matching funds, to implement restoration treatments. Implementation processes will begin immediately after receiving funding.

7. When will the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) planning process occur for proposed treatment actions in the SW Jemez Mountains?

Before implementation can occur, proposals must go through an environmental analysis and public involvement process in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). This process can take a year or longer depending on the scope of the proposed project. However, over 50 percent of the Santa Fe National Forest lands in the area have undergone previous NEPA analysis and public involvement processes, and the collaboratively developed forest landscape restoration strategy should help expedite the NEPA process. The Forest plans on completing NEPA analysis and decisions on the first set of proposed actions identified in the 10-year Strategy by the time Title IV/FLRA funding becomes available.

8. What type of collaborative process is anticipated?

Restoration is a vision for the future rooted in respect for the past. Restoration forestry uses forest conditions prior to European settlement as a reference guide. Forests at that time, unaltered by grazing, timber harvest and fire suppression, were inherently more diverse and sustainable than today’s forests. A restored forest would resemble, but would not duplicate, the structure, composition and function of fire-adapted ecosystems that were first seen by European explorers. Reference conditions used do not represent a particular point in time, but rather the range of natural variability within a particular forest ecosystem that historically occurred.
Emphasis is on restoring forests that are resilient and can recover from natural disturbance events like insect or disease epidemics and wildfires. Webster’s NCD defines restoration as, “putting back into an unimpaired or much improved condition, putting back into nearly or quite the original form.” A forest that resembles historic conditions will often have a greater diversity of plant species and size classes of trees including very large old trees, and most forests will not be devastated by large, “stand-replacement” crown fires. Restoration treatments may include actions that reduce the occurrence of catastrophic wildfires across extensive landscapes.

Restoration treatments encompass all treatments that help recover forest ecosystem resilience, which is the capacity of the ecosystem to adapt and recover after it has been degraded, damaged, or destroyed.

9. How is restoration forestry different from what you’ve done in the past?

We like to think that restoration forestry “sees the forest through the trees”, focusing on a holistic approach to managing ecosystems rather than the growth and development of trees. It also emphasizes planning at a larger landscape scale to account for natural ecosystem disturbance processes and functions.