The Fire Circle is a community fair for people impacted by the Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon fire to co-learn, exchange knowledge, and gather resources. At the fair, community members can gain updates on:
The Fire Circle Fair attendees can:
- grow their knowledge
- talk to restoration professionals
- bring in unknown plants for identification
- learn the status of public trails access
- and pick up a ton of free resources, including a free lunch!
Pre-fire mitigation is a way of life and includes actions such as cleaning up gutters annually; limbing trees and shrubs that are close to homes, and power lines and thinning green forests to reduce tree densities and ladder fuels.
Recovery following large fires, like the Hermit’s Peak / Calf Canyon (HPCC) fire, will take years and perhaps even decades, with post-fire flooding continually resetting the clock for progress made. Post-fire restoration is a long-term commitment that might begin with stabilizing soils, diverting debris away from critical infrastructure such as acequias, stock ponds, and fences, and protecting water resources, especially drinking water. The fair will also bring together organizations who are offering resources for landowners and homeowners, live demonstrations, and activities. Many communities remain vulnerable to wildfires as we have many acres of green islands within, and forests adjacent to, the HPCC burn scar.
For more information, contact:
Shantini Ramakrishnan
shantinir@nmhu.edu
The Fire Circle Community Fair Schedule
10 AM-2 PM – Interactive community resources for landowners, residents and families
10:30 AM – From the Inside Out: Home Hardening, Defensible Space, and YourInsurance (Panel with George Ducker/NM Forestry Division & Melissa Robertson/NMOffice of the Superintendent of Insurance)
11 AM – What the Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon Fire Left Behind and What’s Growing Backin Our Forests (Presentation by Kathryn Mahan & Emily Yannayon/NM Forest &Watershed Restoration Institute)
11:30 AM– An Update on Groundwater Contaminants Following the Hermit’s Peak/CalfCanyon Fire (Presentation by geohydrologist, Kate Zeigler, Zeigler Consulting)
12 Noon – 2 PM – Lunch and demonstrations
12:30 PM – Making Your Community Safer: The Value of Volunteer Fire Departments(Presentation by Art Gonzales, retired fire chief and career firefighter)
1 PM – An Update on Hazard Tree Removal on Mora/San Miguel Power Lines(Presentation by Noah Aragon/T&D Services)
130-2 PM – Lunch and demonstrations
Partners and organizations at the fair include:
Collaborative Visions
Forest Stewards Guild
Hermit’s Peak Watershed Alliance
National Forest Foundation
Neighbors Helping Neighbors
NM Forestry Division
NM Forest & Watershed Restoration Institute
NMHU Department of Forestry
NM Reforestation Center
NM Wild
Office of Superintendent of Insurance
River Source
T&D Services
The Nature Conservancy
University of New Mexico – Biology Department
US Forest Service
Wildfire Resiliency Training Center