This past summer, the ERI outreach crew headed to the Santa Fe National Forest in New Mexico to revisit a 12-year-old restoration demonstration site and explore the San Juan Canyon for a rapid assessment of pre-fire exclusion forest structure.
We worked with Jim Youtz, the Forest Service Region 3 silviculturist, and Gennaro Falco on the Jemez Ranger District to learn about and examine the San Juan Canyon forest soil type and tree patterns. The canyon was logged in the 1930s, supported in part with rail spurs from the Santa Fe Northwestern Railway. Data assessment will continue this winter, with a full rapid assessment report provided by early 2022.
We also revisited and remeasured two restoration demonstration sites established in 2007, one located at the East Fork of the Jemez River Trailhead, and the other by Redondo Campground. These demonstration sites were established through a New Mexico Collaborative Forest Restoration Project, led at the time by The Nature Conservancy of New Mexico. TNC partnered with ERI to establish plots in units. The project implementation thinned the units between 2008–2010; our crew remeasured plots in the Redondo unit to assess forest conditions 10–12 years post-treatment.
