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New Mexico is on its way to the worst wildfire season in state history, with nearly 800,000 acres burned so far. The largest fire in the state, the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire, has burned more than 300,000 of those. But ecologists warn that focusing on the size of a wildfire misses the point.
“Acres burned really is a bad measure of impacts from a wildfire,” Matthew Hurteau, fire ecologist at the University of New Mexico, told the Santa Fe New Mexican. “The thing we’re concerned with ecologically is how much of the fire footprint … burned at high severity.”
Hurteau added that centuries ago, low intensity wildfires burned areas significantly larger than 300,000 acres, but didn't burn the soil as badly, allowing for ecosystems to recover quickly.
In Oregon, new research is helping land managers identify how to lower the severity of wildfires across sagebrush ecosystems. A 10-year-study of mitigation and prevention methods found that thinning vegetation in the Great Basin was the most effective long-term method for mitigating wildfire spread and severity. Using prescribed burns and herbicides to kill invasive plants only had short-term benefits.
This year's wildfires are also highlighting differences in how communities track air pollution from wildfires. Last month, a consumer-grade air quality monitor in Las Vegas, New Mexico recorded a daily average of fine particulate matter that was nine times the healthy limit. It remained above the healthy limit for ten days. But that single low-cost sensor was the only one near the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon fire, and the town of Mora, which was hardest hit, had no sensors at all. New Mexico Sen. Ben Ray Luján was one of six Western senators who encouraged appropriators to make sure the EPA focuses on community equity as it places new air quality monitors.
Climate change and endangered species
Just as climate change is forcing new approaches to wildfire, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing an update to regulations under the Endangered Species Act to create new tools for helping species recover. The changes would allow species to be reintroduced outside of their historical ranges, as habitats shift because of climate change.
“The growing extinction crisis highlights the importance of the Endangered Species Act and efforts to conserve species before declines become irreversible,” said Interior Secretary Deb Haaland. “This effort to update proven conservation tools will help ensure species on the cusp of extinction can recover and thrive for generations to come.”
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