Our Ecological Monitoring field crews are prepping and training for the 2026 field season! They’ve spent time honing their chainsaw and Wilderness First Aid skills, updating field software, and checking their inventory of food, batteries, camping gear, and hand tools. They’ll be spending the Summer and part of the Fall gathering detailed data from hundreds of plots scattered across New Mexico in upland forests, woodlands, and riparian areas. They’ll be counting every live stem, downed tree, snag, and plant species, noting condition and unusual features. The crews have tracked this data on some plots for more than a decade, providing a detailed look at conditions over time, before and after forest treatments, and before and after fires.
Along the way, the crews contend with storms, washed out roads, stuck vehicles, scrapes, dead zones, and more – all in pursuit of good data that form the foundation of scientific research on forest health.
You can see their monitoring reports and maps of their work here.
You can find their data or submit data requests here.
Look for new monitoring reports coming in Fall 2026!