Take a look at the status of wildfires in the Gila National Forest this year
GILA NATIONAL FOREST – Over 80,000 acres of Gila National Forest land has burned so far this year due to wildfires. Take a look at the status of the wilderness area so far this summer.
Prescribed burns
Forest service personnel started 2023 by hand thinning areas of the forest as well as conducting prescribed burns. These two actions are methods used to clear dry brush, grasses, downed logs and other materials that fuels wildfires when managed effectively.
As of July 21, 20,066 acres of forest land have been burned through a prescribed fire, according to Punky Moore, public information officer for the Gila National Forest.
The Pass Fire
The largest wildfire of 2023 in the Gila National Forest started with a lightning strike on May 18. The Pass Fire has burned a 59,833 acres as of July 14, according to Moore, and is located northwest of Winston, New Mexico.
“We are applying a confine and contain strategy on this fire and allowing it to play its natural role in this fire-adapted ecosystem,” said Agency Administrator Elizabeth Toney in a May 22 news release. “We’re seeing really excellent fire effects, burning surface fuels in pine understory, consuming dead grass and dead and down logs.”
According to the USNF, the wildfire ignited within the perimeter of the 2005 Bull Fire and east of the 2012 Whitewater Baldy Fire scar. The 2021 Johnson Fire scar and the 2022 Black Fire scars are south and east of the current blaze.
As of July 14, containment of the fire’s perimeter is at 91%.
“We’re seeing some really good fire effects, consuming dead grass and pine litter, with heavy dead and down fuels burning down to ash,” said Incident Commander Pete Valenzuela on May 27.
The wildfire remains under observation by forest personnel.
Lightning starts
Thunderstorms that moved into the southern New Mexico area in mid-July brought with them lightning. The Gila National Forest reported over one dozen new wildfire starts between July 12 and July 17, all caused by lightning.
Several fires were quickly extinguished or contained while a handful continue to burn.
“Recent rains are increasing relative humidity, greening up surface vegetation, and resulting in low intensity fire behavior,” said Reserve District Ranger Amanda Gehrt on July 17. “Each of these incidents is consuming dead and down wood and lifting the forest canopy by scorching lower branches.”
Lightning activity over the July 22 weekend resulted in 10 more wildfires in the Gila National Forest. According to an update on the forest’s Facebook page, most of the starts were “single-tree lightning strikes that extinguished on their own. Others were immediately suppressed and contained by fire crews.”
What is currently burning?
Pasture Fire
Ignited July 23 by lightning
East of the South Fork Negrito Creek (Reserve Ranger District)
2,416 acres
0% contained
Divide Fire
Ignited July 13 by lightning
Near Elk Mountain/T Bar Canyon (Reserve Ranger District)
11,684 acres
0% contained
Dark Fire
Ignited July 12 by lightning
Near Corner Mountain (Reserve Ranger District)
1,501 acres
0% contained
Davis Fire
Ignited July 15 by lightning
North of Collins Park (Reserve Ranger District)
6,073 acres
0% contained
Noonday Fire
Ignited July 22 by lightning
Northeast of San Lorenzo (Wilderness Ranger District)
400 acres
0% contained
Turkey Fire
Ignited July 22 by lightning
Northeast of Cliff (Wilderness Ranger District)
150 acres
Unknown containment
Tub Fire
Ignited July 16 by lightning
West of Socorro (Quemado Ranger District)
305 acres
30% contained
Farm Fire
Ignited July
North of Tadpole Ridge (Silver City Ranger District)
5.5 acres
Unknown containment
Skates Fire
Ignited July 22
North of Allie Canyon (Silver City Ranger District)
One acre
Goat Fire
Ignited July 24
Southeast of Reading Mountain (Silver City Ranger District)
One acre
Recovery from the 2022 Black Fire
By this time last year, New Mexico experienced the two largest fires in state history – the Black Fire which burned over 320,000 acres in the Gila National Forest and the Calf Canyon/ Hermits Peak Fire that burned over 340,000 acres in the Santa Fe National Forest.
USNF reported that the Black Fire was human-caused, but investigators are still looking into what specifically ignited the blaze.
Meanwhile, forest service personnel are continuing recovery work within the wilderness. The forest recently announced a partnership with Bat Conservation International to launch an aerial seeding project.
According to a news release, the conservation organization will oversee the seeding of 7,617 acres of land burned in the wildfire at high severity which included 19 watersheds largely along the west side of the Continental Divide.
Seeding will help regrow surface vegetation and reduce further watershed erosion in the Diamond Creek, South Diamond Creek and East Mimbres Creek watersheds.
“We have an enormous amount of work to accomplish, in terms of recovering from the Black Fire, along with implementing projects that reduce risk of future catastrophic wildfire to communities and critical infrastructure, and restoring forest and watershed structure,” said Camille Howes, Gila National Forest supervisor, in a news release.
Seeding is set to begin July 28 lasting up to 10 days.
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Leah Romero is the trending reporter at the Las Cruces Sun-News and can be reached at 575-418-3442, LRomero@lcsun-news.com or @rromero_leah on Twitter.
This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: Take a look at the status of wildfires in the Gila National Forest this year
