Homemade signs expressing concern for the ecosystem of Albuquerque’s Bosque have popped up where a thinning project is underway. In addition to questioning the harm to native plants, shade and habitats, some call for the city to pause the work and hold a community meeting. The head of the city’s Open Space Division says her team doesn’t plan to stop the thinning and is confident in its benefits, but encourages those with worries to reach out directly.
The project is meant to reduce the damage fires cause to the Bosque, the forest that borders the Rio Grande. Open Space Superintendent Colleen McRoberts said the number of blazes in the area have more than doubled since 2019, with 235 last year — mostly human-caused.
“When there are fires in this area that did not evolve over a long period of time with fire, it has a devastating impact,” she said. “It does not regenerate.”
In response to concerns that native plants are being “trampled or cut down and chipped” in the work, McRoberts said crews are removing invasive species in sections of the 470-acre project area, and dead wood. They’re also thinning “ladder fuels” that could bring fire up into the canopy, which she said is the only situation where native plants could be hurt.
“But that’s not the focus and, if that’s happening, it’s on a very limited basis,” she said. “And we’re going to be planting a lot of natives in areas where they’re not causing potential fires in the future.”
Those replanting efforts are underway and will continue for the next few years. In the meantime, she acknowledged that the state of the thinned areas may “seem dramatic.”
“People will probably not even really know that this work happened in a couple of years from now,” she said.
Additionally, the state Forestry Division and other partners check weekly that the plan is being adhered to, she said, making adjustments as needed. City biologists are also surveying for habitats in the critical wildlife corridor.
“Those trees are then marked and there is a 50-foot buffer that’s being left undisturbed,” she said.
In response to concerns about erosion, McRoberts said her team is not cutting on slopes and is using lighter-weight equipment to minimize compaction.
“People will see some areas where the soil has been churned up because they physically just have to be able to get to some of these trees and then remove them,” she said. “But that disturbance is being limited as much as possible.”
McRoberts said her team doesn’t know who wrote the signs, but urges them to get in touch by email or phone, as others have.
“The people we have met with up to now, we have gone out to the site to see what their concerns are and we have been able to make some concessions,” she said.
Those include leaving in place some large, invasive Siberian Elms that provide shade and that the concerned community members found beautiful.
“So, we are listening and we are trying to be as responsive as we can while making sure the project continues,” she said.
It is about 70% complete, according to McRoberts, who said a pause would be “challenging.” Beyond complying with the Federal Emergency Management grant that is funding the work, crews are pushing to get it done by April ahead of the migratory bird nesting season.
McRoberts said her division plans to hang posters over the next week in hopes of better educating the public about the project and the ways crews are working to protect important resources.
