Traditional Cultural Property… and the beat goes on…

A few days ago I ventured out for a visit to an archaeological and historic area called the stone circles. It was my first trek into the site, but was guided by another site steward, Gordon Groff, that had been there before. Enroute… sorry this post was interrupted suddenly by a dispatch to the Tres Lagunas incident (fire). Santa Fe National Forest, Pecos, New Mexico. It has been a late and slow-to-evolve fire season this year in the American Southwest, but it has taken of now (with three Type 2 & one Type 1 fires). I was on the Tres Lagunas for about a week. I got released (demobed) to attend a family function (reunion) in Arizona that I’d been coordinating for several months. Now, I’m awaiting another fire assignment as a Safety Officer.

           

The Tres Lagunas fire started on private property, in Pecos Canyon, when a tree branch came down in high winds and brought down a power line. Within 24-hours this would happen again in the Jemez Mountains starting the Thompson Ridge blaze (also Santa Fe National Forest) as it had 2-years before igniting the Las Conchas  fire(the largest fire in state history at the time). Power line rights-of-way  (ROW) apparently aren’t being maintained well; the power companies are saying they need to double & triple width, but I doubt that will be a solution unless the enlarged ROW is maintained. I also wonder if Wildearth Guardians and others will go along with wider ROW?

        My 1^st day on the line following them we pulled off-the-line shortly after noon as the line wasn’t going to hold. Other efforts at “point protection” (resources and values at risk) and direct, indirect line building, and evening burnouts (reducing fuels between head of fire and our control lines) became effective: thank you weather.

  The Tres Lagunas had some very steep line punched in by Hotshot Crews (Type I), that have experience and know when to say no...

            

Mom & Aunt Virginia

At the family get-together, my sisters & I were joined by my Aunt Virginia (Ventura, CA) and many cousins from the West Coast. We convened in Gilbert, AZ, to visit my mom, as she is unable to travel any longer. Sure it was hot there, but even Yosemite Valley hit 105 F on Saturday. Many thanks to my cousins (1^st & 2^nd) that traveled to the desert in June: Steve, Shannon, Patrick, Alison, Ray, Rick & Grace, Nancy & Aubrey, Tracy, and of course my sisters Chris & Laura and nephew Evan & his spouse Grace and their family. We were ALL able to re-connect briefly and visit. Mom enjoyed that…

            Now I await my next fire assignment, and note that though available in the national resource data base, the Southwest Coordination Center was unable to fill a Safety Officer resource order yesterday. This has happened way to often, and I harken back to a comment of my 1^st Type I  Team Incident Commander: “The Santa Fe Zone has a reputation for being inept.” I’ve had my own personal experiences, and apparently “the beat goes on…”