Pile Burning Projects Planned Across Carson National Forest 

With the arrival of winter weather, Carson National Forest fire crews are preparing to continue prescribed fire activities, this time in the form of pile burning. The exact timing of each project will depend on weather, site conditions and available personnel. 

Piles were created from thinning projects in nearly a dozen locations, including near Canjilon, El Rito (Rio Arriba County), Hopewell Lake, Las Trampas, Ojo Sarco, Red River, San Cristobal, Taos Ski Valley and Tres Piedras. A list and map of potential projects are available.

Fire managers are monitoring weather and conditions for opportunities to implement each pile burn project during the winter weather season. As potential opportunities arise, public information officers will make notifications. 

What is Pile Burning?  

Prescribed fires are planned operations that can either be understory burns or pile burns.

Crews this fall implemented what are called understory burns in Valle Vidal, Canjilon and next to Vallecitos (Rio Arriba County). Prescribed fire was used to treat fallen pine needles, logs, small brush and other surface fuels under the forest canopy. The fire burns through a predetermined area, often in a mosaic pattern, leaving islands of untreated fuel. The end result resembles the effects a lightning-caused wildfire would have in a healthy, resilient forest. 

Pile burning, on the other hand, treats slash, like thin branches, piled by thinning crews. This work is often complemented by members of the public who obtain permits to gather fuelwood in recently thinned areas. 

Thinning is applied for different reasons in different areas: 

• In vegetation communities, like ponderosa pine, lightning-caused wildfires were historically frequent and low-intensity. Thinning is used in these areas to reduce unnaturally dense fuels to lay the ground work for understory burning or lightning –caused wildfires. 
• In other vegetation communities, like piñon woodlands and spruce-fir, lightning-caused wildfire were historically infrequent and high-intensity. Thinning is strategically placed near the wildland urban interface to moderate fire behavior and create defensible space for homes, communities and critical infrastructure, among other values that could be threatened. 

It is ideal to pile burn after winter weather conditions have set in. The dampened or snow-covered forest floor reduces the chances a fire creeps away from the pile. In some locations, like in ponderosa stands, pile burning is followed by an understory treatment at a later time. 

The Big Picture 

Thinning and prescribed fire are two of the most important tools of the Wildfire Crisis Strategy to promote healthier forests and reduce the risks of wildfire. Planned pile burning in the Carson National Forest this winter will contribute to major landscape projects across the forest.  

Project work on the forest’s east side is within the Enchanted Circle Landscape, which covers 1.5 million acres in and around the Camino Real and Questa ranger districts. It is one of the most at-risk landscapes in the country and a priority of the Wildfire Crisis Strategy.  

Work on the forest’s west side is within the Rio Chama Collaborative Forest Restoration Landscape Project, which covers the Canjilon, El Rito and Tres Piedras ranger districts and areas outside the forest in Northern New Mexico and Southern Colorado. It aims to protect communities while improving forest health in the Rio Chama and Rio Grande watersheds that are inextricably linked to the water needs of downstream cities, including in Santa Fe and Albuquerque. 

Get Notified 

The public can get pile burning notices through a variety of means:  

• Forest neighbors and residents are encouraged to join the forest news release email list. Email mailroom_r3_carson@usda.gov with a request. 
• Forest visitors are encouraged to check the Alerts & Closures page on the Carson National Forest website or InciWeb before heading out. 
• Prescribed fire notices are also posted to forest social media (Facebook, X) and New Mexico Fire Information. 

(Photo: Piles burn in February 2023 on the Willow project near Hopewell Lake)