Program Coordinator Megan Rangel-Lynch discusses the various ways her organization can help communities become more fire adapted. KC Counts speaks with Rangel-Lynch about Fire Adapted Communities New Mexico. Listen for Rangel-Lynch and other expert guests on Voice of the Public Thursday, June 26th from 1-2 p.m. Here is a portion of their conversation:
KC:
Let's begin by having you just tell us a little bit about the network and what it does.
Megan:
Yes. So FAC NM or Fire Adapted communities New Mexico Learning Network is a statewide network to support communities in becoming more adapted. So, really anyone can join the network. It can be a prominent community leader, a practitioner, agency official, but our main goal of the network is to connect members to each other and really promote this peer-to-peer learning. So, we as network coordinators help to share resources and lessons learned across the state. But we also are here to support collaboration across jurisdictions. So, whether that's agencies working with communities or community members who are all in the same area, getting them connected with one another to do more of this broader fire adaptation work. And really, we have different programs. We have a micro grant program that provides seed funding to kickstart these local fire adaptation projects with the goal of inspiring broader efforts. Our goal is a statewide network not only to support people within this state doing this work, but also to elevate some of the stories and some of the successes that are occurring in New Mexico to the national level. And then also lessons learned at the national level, bringing that back down to the ground here in New Mexico.
KC:
Let’s talk a little bit about what some of those successes look like.
Megan:
Yeah. Is there a specific kind like at the Community level?
KC:
Maybe you can point to something that you would want to be recognized around the rest of the country. Some actions that have been taken, some successes you could point to.
Megan:
OK. Yeah. I think one, it's kind of outside the Fire Adapted New Mexico Network, it was headed by the previous organization that I worked for; but we implemented one of the first prescribed burns following the Hermits Peak Calf Canyon Fire at Glorieta Adventure Camps, which is outside of Santa Fe, and we really did it in step with the land owner and folks who work at the camp. They are part of our network and we involved the community to ensure that everyone knew exactly what we were doing and when we were doing it. And now Glorieta Adventure Camps has actually gone on to do a few burns on their property and has really just become a great steward of their land, approaching forest restoration with intentional fire and care and understanding that there's a lot of education and preparation that goes into managing these lands and reintroducing frequent fire. Like many of these landscapes are adapted to.
KC:
What changes have you seen since you started doing this work and and in what ways have you seen the work manifest itself in local communities?
Megan:
I think some of the changes are just, you know, in New Mexico and in the West, we know that these places have evolved with fire and so many more community members are really becoming interested in what they can do to not only protect their homes, but their communities. And so I think I just see a lot more initiative as wildfires are impacting a lot more communities across the West. And then, I think as far as some of the actions, we really see this growing effort of communities to support each other internally, and so you know, there's folks who have the capability and the capacity to do work on their property. But I think I've been seeing in these communities in New Mexico, a greater drive to support community members who maybe don't have that capacity or capability to do some of these actions that organizations like myself and many other agencies across the West are recommending. And so, I think just all that's to say, you know, I think as a society in the West, coming to realize that while the fire is a natural process and it can be destructive, but there's also a lot of actions and proactive steps we can take before a wildfire to prepare our communities, prepare our homes, and make sure that a disaster isn't as destructive as we've seen in these past 20 years.
KC:
And what types of things would those grants be available for?
Megan:
Yeah. So we have two separate kind of categories. We do a lot of event support, so event support and implementation are really the two buckets of funding that we have through this micro grant program and event support can look like a lot of different things, but we know, and what we've seen in the past, is that these in-person really community oriented and community driven educational campaigns are a lot more effective than some of the more passive education. So, we support community leaders hosting events, whether that's with food or printing materials. Also, with staff to come speak on these topics and then we have implementation program funds. So that's funds to hire a shipping contractor and get a community familiar with how to organize a chipper day or we've also had some leaders apply for funding to get started. So that way, if a landowner decides to treat their property, it says, you know, like I'm a participant of this program with some links to get more information, and that way you know communities can really start seeing what resources are available to them and realize that thinning properties and doing some of this work doesn't look like clear cutting. It can really still make a landscape look really pretty and it does good work without completely clearing a property and so bringing awareness to what a program like a Community planning program does can really help these communities start understanding, again, what these resources are and what this kind of work looks like within their own community itself.
You can learn more about Fire Adapted Communities New Mexico here
