According to a news release from the city of Farmington, \u201cFire mitigation and invasive species removal reduce hazardous fuel density, create additional access for firefighters and reduce the intensity of fire should it occur.\u201d<\/p>\n
Georgette Allen, city spokeswoman, said the two main goals of fire mitigation are to reduce density and height of brush fires. Fire intensity of brush fires is kept lower if flames stay closer to the ground.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese particular trees are more dense and don\u2019t keep it (fire) on the ground,\u201d Allen said.<\/p>\n
Allen said the fire department will put up signs and help keep residents out of the work areas, but the crews will be contracted through the conservation district.<\/p>\n
Chainsaws will be used for most of the removal work and crews will plant native grasses and cottonwood poles to revegetate the area, said Gary Hathorn, invasive weeds coordinator for the San Juan Soil & Water Conservation District. However, revegetation won\u2019t commence until spraying is done.<\/p>\n The crews will spray the area with an herbicide approved by the Environmental Protection Agency and the New Mexico Department Agriculture Bureau of Pesticide Management. Spraying will continue until 2021.<\/p>\n Hathorn, citing a wildfire detection mapping plan conducted a couple of years ago, said there are more than 75,000 acres of Russian olive and saltcedar in San Juan County.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen they get around water, they choke the native species out,\u201d Hathorn said. \u201cThey get so thick you can\u2019t even crawl through it. That\u2019s not the case with your native species. So, there\u2019s a tremendous amount of fuel in there with the Russian olive and saltcedar.\u201d<\/p>\n A number of fires have spread because of Russian olive and saltcedar, Hathorn said. He specifically mentioned the County Road 4901 fire in 2012 that jumped the river multiple times because of the fuel provided by the invasive species.<\/p>\n Hathorn and his crews have removed more than 7,500 acres of invasive species in the last 12 years, and this year\u2019s project, like many others, is funded by grants through the New Mexico State Forestry Division and the Water Trust Board.<\/p>\n The crews will start work next week and Hathorn expects they won\u2019t be finished until late January or early February.<\/p>\n \u201cIt benefits thousands of people in the city of Farmington,\u201d Hathorn said. \u201cWe try to keep Russian olive and saltcedar down for fire mitigation, but at the same time, it provides a steady value to the parks, for the river trails and the city of Farmington.\u201d<\/p>\n