The men and women who fight fires also deal with low pay, long assignments, a lack of benefits, isolation, and things like trauma, depression, substance abuse, suicide and the daily risk of injury and death.
And there’s even more to the story: Fewer people want these jobs, which are also highly specialized and physically demanding.
“Ten, 15 years ago, we would have 400 or 500 applicants for an entry-level fire job on some of the crews I worked on. Now, we’re lucky if we see 50,” federal wildland firefighter Marcus Cornwell explained in the interview. “With those kinds of numbers, we're headed to a train wreck, where one time there's going to be a town here in New Mexico that's going to call for federal assistance, federal help. And guess what? Nobody’s going to show up.”
This report will guide development of the state’s 50-year water plan, and the public can comment on it via the New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission’s public comment form before October 15.
Despite the obvious need for more robust water planning, New Mexico’s agencies remain underfunded and understaffed.
Last week, the Albuquerque Journal reported on testimony from water experts before the Water and Natural Resources Committee, noting for example, that Stacy Timmons recommended increasing “New Mexico Tech’s state budget for the Water Data Initiative from $100,000 annually to $600,000.”
Timmons is associate director for hydrogeology programs at the state’s Geology and Mineral Resources Bureau and a member of the Interstate Stream Commissioner. She’s also one of the driving forces behind the Water Data Act legislators passed in 2019. (One of the main recommendations in the climate report mentioned above, by the way, is to do a better job of gathering and streamlining the state’s water data.)
Reporter Theresa Davis quotes Timmons as saying, “We’re kind of into this new level of scarcity where relying on instinct, rather than evidence-based decisions, is no longer going to work for us."
Water attorney Kyle Harwood also testified that day, noting New Mexico needs to adequately fund its water agencies.
He noted, for example, that the Office of the State Engineer and the Interstate Stream Commission must return to staffing levels of a decade ago. “The urgency is greater and the staffing is functionally less than years ago,” he said, recommending legislators add 40 full-time positions in the next two years.
Lastly, here are a few stories you won’t want to miss:
Also, as more people have been visiting Bears Ears National Monument in Utah, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management is seeking public comment on its plans to improve the trailhead and services at the House on Fire site. Read more and learn how to comment on the BLM website.
And Cannon Air Force Base hosted a virtual meeting this month on its contamination of local groundwater with PFAS. The base has another new commander, Col. Terence Taylor, who said the base is committed to cleanup. (The Air Force has yet to come up with a plan or even map the current extent of the contamination.)
