Sen. Martin Heinrich is among those not happy with the decision to close national forests in Cibola, Santa Fe, and Carson due to the ongoing wildfires and the threat of new ones.
Heinrich took to his Twitter account to say the decision by the U.S. Forest Service is premature.
"We absolutely need to take precautions to prevent wildfires, but blanket closures of our public lands are not the answer,” he tweeted. “We need a nuanced approach that distinguishes between hiking on a trail versus lighting a campfire. We can balance safety and access with a little common sense.”
The U.S. Forest Service announced the forest-wide closures last week for Santa Fe National Forest and the Carson National Forest. The Cibola National Forest, according to a KOB 4 report, is implementing a Stage 3 forest closure for the Mt. Taylor, Mountainair and Sandia Ranger Districts. According to the KOB 4 report, public access is prohibited due to "extreme fire danger." County and state roads that cross through the closed lands remain open to vehicles and businesses in nearby communities.
Those who violate the order are subject to a Class B misdemeanor, which includes fines of up to $5,000 fine for individuals/$10,000 for organizations and/or up to six months’ imprisonment.
Heinrich said in an interview with KOB 4 that the blanket closures only add to the misery many small forest communities are experiencing because of the nearby fires.
“There are many high-risk activities, but we can’t completely cease to function as a state while we manage those things,” he told KOB 4. “We all need to do a better job of educating the public saying you shouldn’t be smoking outside right now, and you can’t have fires or BBQs on our public lands right now. It’s too high a risk.”
Heinrich told KOB 4 he has spoken with the chief of the Forest Service, asking if there’s a middle ground that protects the forests without shutting them down.
“You can do ‘day use’ where you don’t have people camping out overnight and you don’t have BBQs or fires or the kinds of things that have caused the ignitions in the past,” Heinrich told KOB 4. “We just need to recognize the risk level of someone running in the foothills in the Sandia is not the same as someone having a BBQ in the Santa Barbra Campground in the Carson National Forest.”
The Santa Fe National Forest covers 1,558,452 acres while the Carson National Forest spans 1,391,674 acres near Taos. The forests will remain closed through July 18 but could be rescinded earlier.