Balancing wildlife and wildfire in revised forest plans

The U.S. Forest Service is in the middle of a major update to forest management plans. Four National Forests in New Mexico — the Santa Fe, Carson, Cibola and Gila national forests — are now in various stages of the multi-year process to update management plans from the 1980s. The Forest Service has the difficult task of balancing its management plan for a host of diverse uses, ranging from resource management, recreational use, wildlife conservation and wildfire management. There has been a recent push by conservation groups to protect wildlife corridors and habitat connectivity by designating more portions of the National Forest as wilderness. But the discussion on how best to protect habitat has shone a light on another important component of forest management — one that’s a bit more controversial among residents: wildfire. But Jennifer Cramer, who’s leading the revision process for the Santa Fe National Forest, says the two goals are not at odds with one another. “The way that our draft plan addresses wildlife connectivity is through quality habitat for wildlife. The way we achieve that is through managing for vegetation types, which includes the appropriate amount of fire,” she told NM Political Report. “There are parts of the forest that aren’t ideal right now, but using mechanical thinning and adding fire back, we’re going to improve wildlife habitat, and that will in turn improve wildlife connectivity,” she said...MORE