NMFWRI’s field monitoring crew has to be ready for every kind of situation when they are on in the remote backcountry gathering the detailed data required to track forest health before and after fires. Mud, lightning and stuck vehicles are bound to happen. Flat tires, glitchy equipment, and blisters are all par for the course. This year, the first week of May also found the crew training in several inches of snow. The field crew spent the first half of May training or refreshing the wide range of skills necessary for a successful field season, including wilderness first aide, vehicle maintenance, chainsaw use and safety, and data gathering protocols.
This season, NMFWRI’s ecological monitoring program welcomed the continued help from experienced monitoring technician aides Taryn Schlosser and Michael Branch. The program also welcomed new members Robert Magill, ecological monitoring crew lead, and Vincent Vispo, seasonal monitoring technician for the summer.
The field crews will spend the summer and fall gathering ecological data on hundreds of plots across New Mexico – some of which have been measured consistently for years, which provides a critical, longitudinal record that can help land managers determine best treatments and their effectiveness.
