Thursday Public Meeting on Santa Fe Mountains Project Will Livestream on Zoom

By SFNF

The previously announced virtual open house on the Santa Fe Mountains Landscape Resiliency Project (SFMLRP) this Thursdaywill livestream on Zoom, not Facebook, which will give members of the public the opportunity to speak directly with specialists who worked on the proposal.

The SFMLRP “lunch and learn” is scheduled for Oct. 14 from 12 to 1:30 p.m. The Zoom link is https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81896951009. Participants may also call into the meeting by dialing 346-248-7799 and entering the meeting ID 818 9695 1009.

Hosted by the Santa Fe National Forest and the Greater Santa Fe Fireshed Coalition(GSFFC), the lunch and learn will begin with a brief overview of the project and then break into three virtual “rooms.” Specialists will spend 20 minutes in each breakout room to give participants an opportunity to have a conversation with them on vegetation, fire and fuels, air quality and climate, wildlife, scenery and recreation will be available.

The proposed project is designed to improve the health of a priority landscape and increase its resilience to future disturbances, including wildfire, climate change, insects and disease, by using prescribed fire and small-tree thinning on up to 38,680 acres across a 50,566-acre project area over the next 10 to 15 years. The SFMLRP was developed by the GSFFC, a multi-partner collaborative that came together to proactively address the risk of high-severity wildfire and post-fire flooding and debris flow near the city of Santa Fe.

The 30-day public comment period on the draft environmental assessment (EA) opened on Sept. 30, and comments received by Oct. 29 will be analyzed and responded to prior to a decision on the SFMLRP.  Substantive comments received during this period will also establish standing to raise an administrative objection later in the decision-making process.

Comments on the SFMLRP draft EA can be submitted by one of the following methods:

·       CARA (Comment and Analysis Response Application) web form which is accessible from the project webpage by clicking “Comment/Object on Project”

·       Email to comments-southwestern-santafe@fs.fed.us

·       Regular postal mail to Española District Office, 18537 US 84/285, Suite B, Española, NM 87532