Look West: Public lands and energy news from the Center for Western Priorities


** New Mexico wildfires could lead to destructive monsoon season
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Tuesday, May 31, 2022
The Las Conchas Fire burned 154,349 acres in New Mexico in 2011. Flooding after the fire damaged trails and buildings in Bandelier National Monument. Credit: John Fowler via Wikimedia Commons ([link removed])

As the largest wildfire in New Mexico's history continues to blaze, federal forest officials have begun to worry about ([link removed]) the upcoming monsoon season. Burn scars can lead to increased flooding ([link removed]) , as well as release debris like ash into watersheds, which can stress water treatment plants ([link removed]) .

As of Sunday, the Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak Fire remained at 50% containment ([link removed]) and had charred over 3 ([link removed]) 00,000 acres ([link removed]) in the Sangre de Cristo mountain range.

“When you think of a fire, you can’t think just in terms of when you put it out,” Ralph Lucas, an operations section chief for an incident management team deployed to fight the fire, told the Santa Fe New Mexican. ([link removed]) “Sometimes that’s just the beginning. The post-fire effects are tremendous.”

Those effects include potentially catastrophic flooding, caused by a lack of vegetation to absorb runoff—runoff that carries ashy sediment into waterways and drainage areas during rainstorms. That ash could end up contaminating rivers, streams, lakes, acequias, and municipal water systems ([link removed]) .

A U.S. Forest Service Burned Area Emergency Response, or BAER, team has already begun to assess which areas ([link removed]) will be at highest risk, including Las Vegas, New Mexico, where over a hundred homes burned earlier this month ([link removed]) .

“A large portion of their drinking water is served from surface sources that are directly downstream from these burned areas,” Phoebe Suina, a hydrologist whose environmental consulting company studies wildfire-impacted watersheds, told the Albuquerque Journal ([link removed]) .
Quick hits


** Calf Canyon Fire started by smoldering burn pile ignited in January by Forest Service
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Axios ([link removed])


** Wyoming forest officials look into curbing impacts of dispersed camping
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Wyoming Public R ([link removed]) adio ([link removed])


** Opinion: Santa Fe County is wise to support protection of Caja del Rio
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Santa Fe New Mexican ([link removed])


** New Mexico communities may be at risk of floods, ash following fire
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Albuquerque Journal ([link removed]) | Associated Press ([link removed]) | Santa Fe New Mexican ([link removed])


** Are we loving Colorado’s outdoors to death? Officials try to strike balance on public lands
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Colorado Public Radio ([link removed])


** Most of the West is in severe drought as wildfire season approaches
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Wall Street Journal ([link removed])


** Report: Industrial solar disrupts big-game movements
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WyoFile ([link removed])


** What happens if Glen Canyon Dam stops producing power?
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Salt Lake Tribune ([link removed])
Quote of the day
” I know my generation and even past generations haven’t entirely lived up to our end of the deal, otherwise you would be inheriting a country where every individual and every ecosystem is thriving. I know you all have the intelligence and foresight to move our world in a loving direction of progress, and for that, I thank you. ”
—Interior Secretary Deb Haaland to the Bard College class of 2022, B ([link removed]) ard College ([link removed])
Picture this


** @N ([link removed]) atlParkService ([link removed])
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In nature, bear boop you.

Seeing a bear in the wild is a treat for any visitor to a park. While it’s exciting, it’s important to remember that bears in national parks are wild. Check out bear safety tips at: [link removed]… ([link removed])

P.S. Never boop a bear. 📸 @LakeClarkNPS ([link removed])

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