New Mexico Communities Get $26 million to Reduce Wildfire Risk
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact: George Ducker
Communications Coordinator
george.ducker@emnrd.nm.gov
505-699-0601
September 26, 2025
New Mexico communities get $26 million to reduce wildfire risk
Funds advance wildfire mitigation on private and tribal land
SANTA FE – To guard against catastrophic wildfires, four New Mexico communities will receive $26 million in federal grants, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said this week.
Community Wildfire Defense Grants help local communities plan for and reduce wildfire risks. Areas identified as having high or very high wildfire hazard potential receive priority for funding, especially if they recently experienced a severe wildfire disaster.
“This critical funding helps communities meet their wildfire mitigation objectives, said EMNRD Secretary Melanie Kenderdine . “We are proud of the example set by these awardees and encourage all New Mexicans to take whatever steps they can to decrease their own wildfire risk.”
“These awards will help the communities be proactive and show they aren’t waiting for someone else to solve their problems,” said State Forester Laura McCarthy . “Mitigation measures such as forest thinning, maintenance of defensible space around homes, and designation of community evacuation routes are proven ways to decrease the damage from catastrophic wildfire and increase public safety.”
The four New Mexico grant awardees and their projects are:
Cimarron Watershed Alliance, Inc. received $10 million for the Colfax Wildfire Risk Reduction Project. This will implement wildfire risk reduction measures including fuels reduction, evacuation route clearing, focused forest thinning, and defensible space work on private land in and around communities in southwest Colfax County.
Ciudad Soil and Water Conservation District received $7.2 million for the East Mountains Community Wildfire Protection Project. This project will implement fuels reduction initiatives in and around wildland urban interface and high-risk communities. The intent is to protect the East Mountain area of Bernalillo County from high-intensity fires and improve community and forest resiliency.
Taos Soil and Water Conservation District received $5.8 million to conduct 2,000 acres of defensible space and hazardous fuels treatments in wildland urban-interface communities. The work will be coordinated with other planned and ongoing wildfire risk reduction projects by local, state, federal and tribal partners.
Pueblo of Cochiti received $3.3 million for what it labeled its Fire Reduction through Fuel Management and Capacity Building Project.
The Flying Horse fuel break project undertaken by Cimarron Watershed Alliance, a recipient of this cycle’s CWDG award. Photo by: Rick Smith, CWA
New Mexico Forestry Division staff worked with applicants to submit the proposals. The Forestry Division also will administer the funds which come from the USDA Forest Service.
More information is available through the USDA Forest Service . See the complete list of national awardees here . Link to this press release is available here .
NMFireInfo.com
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