Contact: Glyn Griffin, District 2 (Reserve/Luna)
Catron County Commission
PO Box 507, Reserve NM 87830
(575) 533-6423 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CATRON COUNTY SAYS MULTIPLE USE CAN SAVE OUR FORESTS
Catastrophic wildfires like the Wallow Fire can be avoided
RESERVE, N.M. June 15, 2011. When the half-million acre Wallow Fire jumped across the state line into Catron County, fire teams were poised and ready. They had several days to prepare fire lines and fire breaks, and the fire personnel were fresh and eager to hold this fire from consuming the communities and environment of the Gila National Forest.
“We are a big county with a small population,” Griffin said. “The emergency measures we had to take in order to protect our citizens and to provide for the fire people were a heavy burden for us.” The county seat of Reserve, population under 600, has been hosting fire evacuees and hundreds of fire related contractors, service providers, and member of the press as well as people just coming to look.
“Fires like this are hard on us over and above the strain on our own fire and emergency services people,” Griffin said. “Here in rural America we have lived with the land for generations and, contrary to what people seem to want to believe, we are good stewards of the forests and grasslands. We have to be, because we all expect our children and grandchildren, and their children, to earn their living directly or indirectly through our natural resources.”
“I think we can put a good part of the responsibility for this fire on the environmental groups that have blocked forest restoration, logging and grazing for so long,” Griffin said. “There have always been fires in the forest- that’s natural and healthy. But ever since this system of forest management by environmental lawsuit took over from management by forest science and common sense, we have these giant, forest destroying wildfires. We watch the future of our children and the habitat of so much wildlife going up in smoke.”
The Forest Service has practiced preservation-oriented, rather than multiple-use forest management for decades. Almost ten years ago the Rodeo-Chediski fire destroyed as many acres as the Wallow in Arizona, and in Catron County, too, catastrophic wildfires have torched tens of thousands of acres old growth forest and destroyed endangered species habitat.
“The irony is that those protected species were all doing pretty well under multiple-use forest management strategies,” Griffin said. “Now that there is no place for them to live at all, you have to wonder just what all that preservation was for.”
| The Catron County Commission wishes to express its appreciation for the outstanding effort by the Glenwood Gazette and publisher Gale Moore in providing timely and vital emergency information about the Wallow Fire for Catron County residents. The Gazette’s blog, gazetteonline.blogspot.com, was maintained by Lif Strand from almost the first day of the fire. The contribution of volunteers in times of emergency is invaluable, and the Gazette stepped up to the plate to fill a vital need during the Wallow Fire. Thank you, Glenwood Gazette. -GGriffin |
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