Greetings, Zuni Partners and Collaborators!
What does it mean to care for our forests? The verb care comes from the Old English carian and caru, meaning to ‘feel concern or interest’. The Mt. Taylor Ranger District and Zuni Mountains CFLRP partners certainly embody this word’s history in the concern they show for the public lands under Cibola National Forest’s purview. With the arrival of autumn just a week away, we would like to take a moment to reflect on some summer highlights from across the Zuni Mountains Landscape.
Forest Service staff and partners have worked to implement landscape restoration and resiliency projects, to monitor for endangered and sensitive species, and to keep surrounding communities apprised of the work happening on their national forest. Partners have also taken action to care for their beloved landscape, from habitat improvement to public forums to hosting field tours.
March - August: Mexican Spotted Owl Surveys
PACs, or Protected Activity Centers, are areas identified as prime owl habitat. PACs must be monitored yearly when any work is being implemented on timber, trails, springs, or other resources within the area. Even when they are not included in a PAC, areas receiving or being considered for treatment must also be monitored for the presence of owls and other sensitive species.
Surveyors across the Cibola National Forest spent late nights and early mornings traversing the mixed conifer and pine-oak habitats across the Cibola in search of the Federally Threatened Mexican Spotted Owl. The information from these surveys is then used to inform project planning to help move the species toward recovery (from the US Forest Service - Cibola National Forest & National Grasslands Facebook page).
Photos courtesy of CNF wildlife biologist C. Lemaire
July: Collaborative Site Visit to Puerco Project
On Tuesday, July 20th, 2021, more than two-dozen partners of the Zuni Mountains Collaborative representing the Native Plant Society, EMNRD Forestry Division, Department of Game and Fish, McKinley County, Bat Conservation International, Great Old Broads for Wilderness, and retired professionals convened for a site visit of the Zuni Mountains Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration (CFLR) project. Led by the Forest Stewards Guild and USDA Forest Service staff members from the Mt. Taylor Ranger District, participants had the opportunity to view and discuss completed and ongoing project work within the Zuni Mountains CFLR landscape. At four different sites within the landscape, resource specialists shared their work and spoke about how project implementation has affected specific resources, touching on timber, wildlife, vegetation, recreation, prescribed burning, roads, and hydrology.
September: Release of the new Cibola National Forest Land Management Plan
Forest Plans for the Carson, Cibola, and Santa Fe National Forests were released online on September 2, 2021. These forests worked collaboratively with tribes, partners, cooperating agencies, and the public to develop Forest Plans that recognize current issues and value the culture and traditions of the people of New Mexico. These plans also focus on reducing the risk of catastrophic wildfires and increase public safety.
“I am excited to publish the revised Cibola National Forest Land Management Plan. I want to thank all our cooperating agencies, members of our collaboratives and interested members of the public for their efforts in developing this plan. This has been a group effort to make this the best Forest Plan to steward the resources and provide for multiple use by the public. We are looking forward to implementing this plan with our cooperating agencies, collaboratives and the public.”
- Steve Hattenbach, Forest Supervisor at the Cibola National Forest and Grasslands.