Zuni Mountains Collaborative
Collaborative forest restoration in west-central New Mexico
Introduction
Since 2005, the Zuni Mountains Collaborative has led forest restoration and community resilience efforts across the Zuni Mountains of west-central New Mexico. The purpose of the Collaborative is to guide actions regarding the conservation, use, and management of lands and waters in the Zuni Mountains Landscape. We work closely with the Cibola National Forest, who manages more than 90% of the land in the Landscape.
History of the Land
Native Land
Situated in west-central New Mexico, the Zuni Mountains are the traditional homelands of their namesake tribe, the A:shiwi or Pueblo of Zuni. These lands and waters are culturally important to several other Native American tribes including the Pueblos of Laguna and Acoma, and the Ramah, Bread Springs and Thoreau Chapters of Navajo Nation. Despite a history of dispossession and marginalization, Native peoples continue to play a critical role in the stewardship of the ecocultural systems of the Zuni Mountains Landscape.
Logging
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, the Zuni Mountains Landscape, like much of the west, was subject to extensive railroad logging. Timber companies bought large tracts of land and built temporary infrastructure for short-term logging operations, which they dismantled when the most valuable timber had been removed. These timber companies clear cut hundreds of thousands of acres, permanently altering the ecological landscape by removing close to 100% of mature trees.
Fire Suppression
Fire suppression policies adopted by the Forest Service and other federal and state agencies beginning in the early 1900s also played a significant role in shaping the forested ecosystems - particularly ponderosa pine forests - of the Zuni Mountains while significantly increasing catastrophic wildfire risk. Today's forests have higher tree densities, higher fuel loads, and reduced structural complexity when compared to pre-industrial forests. Climate change, which is bringing more intense and frequent drought, worsening pest outbreaks, and more frequent and severe wildfires, only exacerbates the historic fire deficit.
Ecological Restoration
From 1991 to the present, ecological restoration efforts have been undertaken in the Zuni Mountains Landscape to improve ecological and community resilience. The Zuni Mountains Collaborative formed in 2005 through a partnership between the Forest Stewards Guild and the Cibola National Forest on a Collaborative Forest Restoration Program (CFRP). Over the years, many partners have joined the Collaborative and invested their time and resources to restore and protect the forested ecosystems and natural resources of the Zuni Mountains Landscape and surrounding communities.
Early Success
In the early years of the Zuni Mountains Collaborative, ecological restoration began with small-scale CFRPs focused on thinning and prescribed fire treatments. These CFRPs paved the way for forest restoration in the Zuni Mountains, beginning in the Bluewater area in the eastern part of the Landscape. Check out this Showcase of Treatments in the Bluewater area created by the New Mexico Forest and Watershed Restoration Institute, highlighting restoration efforts by the Collaborative as well as the area's natural history.
Many partners were involved in planning and implementing the Zuni Mountains Collaborative's initial projects, which included restoration of the Bluewater watershed. The goals of these initial efforts were:
- To create conditions that allow fire to resume its natural ecological role in the forest mosaic, and
- To create conditions where wildfire intensities in the Bluewater wildland-urban interface are reduced to a level where fire suppression forces can safely remain on site in the face of an advancing fire.
In 2003, the Zuni Mountains Collaborative received $50,000 to execute the Bluewater Environmental Watershed Impact Statement, one of the largest in the Southwest at the time.
By 2008, the Forest Stewards Guild and other partners had restored 1,479 acres of pinyon-juniper savanna and 461 acres of meadow while reducing the high-intensity fire risk to the village of Bluewater Lake. They also established the Wood Industries Network (WIN) to increase local capacity for forest-based industries.
From 2001 to 2010, there were nine CFRP grants on Forest Service, Tribal, BLM and State Land Office lands in the Zuni Mountains Landscape. These forest restoration projects focused on restoring forest structure, improving wood utilization, and protecting the wildland-urban interface.
The success of these CFRPs led to the larger-scale Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Projects (CFLRPs) that have supported restoration work in the Zuni Mountains Landscape since 2012.
Years of Growth
In 2012, the Collaborative received a major 10-year investment from the US Forest Service in the form of a Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Project (CFLRP). The Zuni Mountains CFLRP encompasses a more than 210,000-acre landscape and targets the restoration of ponderosa pine ecosystems through the application of large-scale thinning and prescribed fire.
Thanks to the injection of CFLRP resources, the Zuni Mountains Collaborative has implemented a diverse array of projects across the Landscape. Within the first couple of years of the CFLRP (through 2015), mechanized treatments were underway and many more partners were involved.
Photos from the Zuni Mountains Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Project (2012-2020)
Collaboration across the Zuni Mountains Landscape
Returning prescribed fire
Forest thinning
Chizh for Cheii
Mount Taylor Manufacturing
Building local capacity
Youth involvement
Ecological monitoring
Returning prescribed fire
In 2021, the Collaborative implemented two prescribed burns led by the Mt. Taylor Ranger District of the Cibola National Forest. The Copperton Rx burns in the spring and fall of 2021 reduced hazardous fuels and provided an opportunity for the public to participate in a burn observer tour.
Forest thinning
Forest thinning has been ongoing in the Zuni Mountains Landscape since 1991. Thinning involves removing small-diameter trees to open up the canopy, increasing understory biodiversity and reducing the risk of catastrophic wildfire. Thinning is accomplished through contracts with companies such as Forest Fitness, LLC. Industry partners are essential to accomplishing thinning work while sustaining local jobs.
Chizh for Cheii
Chizh for Cheii, which means "Wood for Grandpa" in Navajo, is a local grassroots organization whose goal is to provide warmth to elders on Navajo land. Chizh for Cheii collects downed wood generated by thinning projects and distributes it to Diné elders throughout northwest New Mexico and northeast Arizona. Firewood is crucial for cooking and purifying hauled water for Diné communities, many of whom live in remote rural areas with no electricity and limited access to firewood.
Mount Taylor Manufacturing
Forest restoration work within the Zuni Mountains Landscape would not be possible without the local mill infrastructure of Mount Taylor Manufacturing (MTM). MTM purchases and processes woody material into a variety of products, including cants and beams, wood pellets, and playground chips, while sustaining a local workforce.
Building local capacity
Education and capacity building are essential components to successful collaborative forest restoration. The Zuni Mountains CFLRP supports local employment through seasonal forestry crews who focus on fire and fuels and timber marking, respectively. Fire and fuels crews prep burn units and assist with prescribed fire implementation, while timber marking crews paint ponderosa pine trees in preparation for future thinning. Crew leaders and members hail from local communities.
Youth involvement
The Forest Stewards Youth Corps provides natural resource management training for youth and young adults between the ages of 16-25, while supplying a valuable workforce for a range of projects in the Zuni Mountains Landscape.
Ecological monitoring
Monitoring helps us understand trends in key ecosystem processes and focal species present in the forested ecosystems of the Zuni Mountains, as well evaluate how restoration actions such as thinning and burning affect these processes and wildfire risk to communities. The Forest Service and Forest Stewards Guild lead monitoring efforts to track changes in forest and watershed condition in the Zuni Mountains.
Treatments in the Zuni Mountains
Check out ongoing treatments in the Zuni Mountains and other parts of New Mexico using New Mexico Forest & Watershed Restoration Institute's online map tool . Here is a preview:
The future
The 10-year extension of the Zuni Mountains Collaborative Forest Restoration Project, approved in 2021, has generated momentum for continuing to build ecosystem and community resilience in the Zuni Mountains Landscape. Upcoming work will target the western portion of the Zuni Mountains as outlined in the Rio Puerco Landscape Restoration Project. Here, more than 10,000 acres of ponderosa pine and pinyon-juniper woodlands will be thinned, and prescribe burned, to restore historic tree densities and forest composition. Following treatments, fuelwood will be made available for local communities.
The Zuni Mountains Collaborative relies on meaningful contributions from a diverse array of partners working together towards a shared vision of land stewardship in the Zuni Mountains. By leveraging our collective resources, effort, and expertise, we can achieve far more than if we act on our own. If you work, live, play, do research, or just have an interest in the Zuni Mountains, please complete a partner profile to help grow our network of collaborators.
Here's to another decade of successful forest restoration efforts in the Zuni Mountains!
