New Mexico Forests Prepare for Wildfire Season with Prescribed Burns

In the lead-up to the upcoming winter season, the U.S. Forest Service has resumed wildfire mitigation projects across New Mexico's national forests. As of October 2025, crews have begun prescribed fire and pile burning operations in the Carson National Forest north of Taos, with plans to treat a total of 29,178 acres through the spring.

The Forest Service's efforts aim to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires by clearing high concentrations of dead and downed debris that can act as fuel. This includes burning wood piles left over from previous thinning and firewood collection by local residents, many of whom rely on wood as their primary heating source.

While the Forest Service's communications may be limited due to the ongoing federal government shutdown, the agency has confirmed that similar mitigation projects are also underway in the state's other national forests, including Santa Fe, Cibola, Gila, and Lincoln. These efforts are part of a broader strategy to increase the landscape's resilience to severe wildfires and other large-scale disturbances.

As a result, residents living near these national forests may see more smoke than usual emitting from kivas and wood-burning stoves in the coming months. However, experts agree that these controlled burns remain critical to addressing decades of forest management policies that have allowed fire fuels to accumulate, heightening the risk of devastating wildfires across the Western United States.