New Mexico Closes National Forests, Could Colorado Do The Same?

DENVER (CBS4)- Fires and dry weather are forcing a severe move in New Mexico and questions about whether the same thing might be needed here. The US Forest Service will implement a full closure of several national forest areas including the Santa Fe National Forest starting Thursday, May 19.

It means recreation sites like campgrounds, roads, trails and trailheads will be closed to the general public.

"It's not taken lightly a lot of factors are considered," said Donna Nemeth, the US Forest Service's press officer in Colorado about such decisions. "We understand that people want to use and should their public lands But it has to be safe."

But it affects a lot of people and especially small communities around forest lands who gain economic benefit from them.

"So they've got a big job trying to maintain the forest so we're all safe," said Mark Turner, a veteran outfitter who runs Big Game Adventures in Idaho Springs where his family first arrived back in 1897. "I spent a lifetime doing this, I guess I've been in this for 30 years."

He earns a living guiding hunters to take game in national forests. Being a good steward of the land is a critical part of his business.

"We understand that when we take the responsibility of being out there." He's dealt with closures due to fires. "We were actually over in Grand County when that big fire was going and we had some clients and they had shut down some of the main access roads."

He understands the limited access, but it can cot people like outfitters money, "Well I don't know that there is an alternative," he added. But when lands are closed, it can mean loss of opportunity for hunters who have drawn tags to hunt game. "Some of those licenses take 20 plus years to draw, so it affects them too."

There were closures of the Arapaho and Roosevelt National forests at the time of the Cameron Peak and East Troublesome fires in 2020 in Colorado.

Among the criteria for deciding closures says Nemeth is, "Weather, fire behavior, the number of firefighting resources available to assist if needed."

Plus other considerations like fuel moisture levels in both live and dead fuels, current and predicted fire behavior and the fire danger rating. That rating has arrived with the inclusion of a calculation called the "energy release component." It considers live and dead fuel moisture levels and estimates the intensity of a potential fire.

More people in the forests have created more danger. In his years there Turner has seen more of people having fires on days when there are burn bans.

"Unfortunately we've got more and more people pouring into the hills, hiking the trails and you know. Our county right now is under a fire ban and a shooting ban. Because we have a lot of shooters come up and shoot on National forest land."

He hopes people will learn about the dangers they create.

"Everybody likes to go out and have a campfire and roast a marshmallow, but be smart about it," he said. "Let's think about who we're affecting and what we're affecting. I mean it affects everything."