Memorial Day weekend marks the start of summer. As New Mexicans head outdoors to enjoy their favorite places, public land managers are urging the public to be careful with the use of fire where it is allowed and to know if the area they plan to visit is under fire restrictions: Know before you go!
Before the monsoon and lightning season, most wildfires are human-caused. Due to prolonged drought and very high to extreme fire danger, public land management agencies are implementing fire and smoking restrictions to protect public health and safety by preventing human-caused wildfires.
Year-around restrictions, local burn bans, Stage I and Stage II fire restrictionsare in effect across New Mexico. For detailed information, visitors are encouraged to contact the nearest land management agency office where they plan to work or play, visit http://firerestrictions.us/nm, or call the toll-free Southwest Fire Restriction Hotline 1-877-864-6985.
Currently restrictions apply to the following agencies:
- Forest Service: Carson National Forest, Cibola National Forest (except for the Magdalena Ranger District and National Grasslands), Gila National Forest, Lincoln National Forest, Santa Fe National Forest, and the Valles Caldera National Preserve.
- National Park Service: Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Petroglyph National Monument, and Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument.
- New Mexico State Forestry: All state and private land (including New Mexico State Parks) that is non-municipal, non-federal and non-tribal.
- Bureau of Land Management: Albuquerque District, Las Cruces District, and Pecos District.
- Bureau of Indian Affairs: Pueblo de Cochiti, Pueblo of Acoma, Pueblo of Isleta, Pueblo of Jemez, Pueblo of San Felipe, Pueblo of Sandia, Pueblo of Santa Ana, Pueblo of Santo Domingo, Pueblo of Zia, and Pueblo of Zuni.
Recreational opportunities on public lands are plentiful. People can still enjoy hiking, camping, mountain biking, or fishing. Land managers ask that folks enjoy their public lands responsibly: remember that fires and charcoal grills used in developed campsites or picnic areas where allowed by current fire restrictions should never be left unattended and always completely extinguished and cold to the touch before departing.
Useful online wildfire prevention and information resources:
- Take Smokey Bear’s Pledge: http://www.smokeybear.com/take-pledge.asp
- Comprehensive New Mexico Fire Information:http://nmfireinfo.com/
- Public Lands Information Center: http://publiclands.org/firenews/?plicstate=NM
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nmfireinfo
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/NMFireInfo | @NMFireInfo