Wildfire Network has been awarded a 2020 Round 3 grant award from the Coalitions and Collaboratives, Inc's (COCO) Action, Implementation and Mitigation (AIM) program.
Wildfire Network will provide a cost-share program to residents within the East Mountain CWPP area, focusing on Sandia Park, Cedar Crest and Tijeras to continue our successful existing wildfire/forest health mitigation program (previously funded by a 2018 New Mexico Association of Counties grant and a 2019 AIFC Ready,Set,Go! grant). Costs for the mitigation will be split between the grant funds and each landowner.
Work will be performed by Wildfire Network's youth crew, a crew of four to five 18-26 year olds who are gaining real-world training in saw safety, maintenance and operation, ecological monitoring, and forest health, along with volunteer sawyers, and students from a local school.
Slash from this project will be chipped and brought to a locally owned pig farm, where it will be composted into a rich soil amendment, and fuelwood will be utilized by the property owner, taken by local firewood vendors to be processed into saleable firewood, or distributed by us to local families in need.
Each property will have pre- and post-monitoring data taken to determine changes in canopy cover, trees per acre, square footage of basal area, tons of biomass removed and fuelwood produced.
The project will continue our objective of protecting structures by creating areas within the community that will reduce fire intensity. It will also produce jobs and training for youth, as well as provide a product for firewood producers in the area. We have experience with previous grants in this CWPP area which has enabled over 70 acres of private land thinning overall and 15 acres within the Sandia Park Scenic Byway firewise area.
Check the questions below for more information.
Check to see if your property is within our project
AIM Project Photos
Progress So Far
We are training these youth in the art and science of thinning forested private land. YOU can help by allowing us to come evaluate your property, discuss your goals, and create a plan to reduce wildfire risk. Our youth gain experience with ecological monitoring (to see what the baseline conditions are in terms of tree density, percentages of bug infestations and disease and ground surface conditions). Once we and YOU determine what should be removed, youth gain skills with saw operations and teamwork to get the job done. (and we usually throw in some physical training, saw maintenance, and fire behavior and safety discussions into the day). YOU are welcome and encouraged to participate in all of it. We'll then re-evaluate our monitoring areas to see the immediate impact, as well as stay in touch with you to periodically (once per year) remonitor the area to see how the land is responding.
Get your home assessed for wildfire risk
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Questions
This program is what is commonly called a cost-share program. What that means is the grant will pay for a portion (often 50%) of the cost of reducing risk around your home and increasing the health of your property.
The AIM program is supported by a cooperative agreement with the USDA Forest Service. In accordance with federal law and the U.S. Department of Agriculture policy, this organization is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age or disability.
To file a complaint of discrimination, write USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, Room 326-W, Whitten Building, 1400 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410 or call toll free voice (866) 632-9992, TDD (800) 877-8339, or voice relay (866) 377-8642. USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.
