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In late April and early May, two forest fires took out huge chunks of land in northern New Mexico. The damage was totaled in thousands of acres and made national newscasts on most channels. The Dome Fire took place in the Dome wilderness near Santa Fe, and the Hondo Fire occurred thirty miles south of the Colorado border. The former started from an errant campfire, and the latter was a result of trash burning.
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Now to understand how negligent these acts were, a quick weather explanation should be presented. The state of New Mexico was in a drought. When I say drought, I don't mean it had been a couple weeks since it had rained. I mean I could not remember the last time it had rained or snowed in Albuquerque. I asked other people when the last time it rained and got varied responses (most remembered a two hour snow fall on New Year's Eve). I happened to be at the D.H. Lawrence Ranch in mid-April which was about a week before the Dome Fire started. The group I was with talked to a man who was in charge of the area, and he told us the water reservoirs were half as full as they should be at that time of the year. He also stated with a little worry that it hadn't been that dry in twenty years.
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I like to think of adverse weather conditions as tests that nature gives us to see how we'll do. Sort of like a pop quiz on survival skills. Well, guess what? We failed--again. It's not that New Mexico lacks in environmental awareness. In fact, it's probably one of the most environmentally-conscious states around. I think this fact has something to do with all the transplanted Californians who saw their state get messed up and want to make amends. The problem with preventing forest fires is that it's one of those all or nothing tasks. One loose wire is enough to cause a spark.
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As an editors' trip, Matt and I took an afternoon to look at the destruction of the Dome Fire. While the burned area was full of charred tree trunks and ash layers, I felt relieved to see undamaged trees surrounding the entire area. The place would rebuild itself eventually. Also in this napalmed area, we saw a piece of a trunk about as big as my leg, and it was still smoking. Ash surrounded the log, so it was not going to start up anything.
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The thing that stands out the most from the fire is the color, or rather, the lack there of. When people say they see things not as black or white but as shades of gray, pity them because that's all there was at the end of this fire. Dark gray soot, charcoal, light ash, and light gray cinder. There were no insects, no color, no life. The only sound was the creaking of scorched limbs as the wind blew through them. |
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I can't actually do anything about the fires. My funds are limited, I now live nine states away from the destruction, and the drought has ceased in New Mexico. The forest service plans to reseed the area, and everyone has moved on to other concerns. But in my mind, loose wires are going camping this weekend, and that log will always be smoking. |
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