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| Steve Pearce |
Congressman Steve Pearce praised the efforts of the Otero County Commission for voting on Tuesday June 7th to create an
“Emergency Forest Plan.” The plan could lead to the logging of trees in the county as early as this fall. Otero County Commissioners Ronny Rardin, Tommy Herrell, and Susan Flores approved a proposal to create the plan and tell the federal government that the county intends to log approximately ten to twenty thousand acres near the community of Cloudcroft.
“I commend the Otero County Commission for their efforts for responsible forest management,” Congressman Pearce said. “I thank Commissioners Rardin, Herrell, and Flores for putting the safety of New Mexicans first, and for choosing a course of responsible forest management. In March of this year, Congressman Pearce submitted legislation to restore the thousands of jobs that once existed in New Mexico’s timber industry. “Somebody has to draw a line in the sand, step back from the federal government’s stranglehold and take responsibility for ourselves,” Rardin said at the public meeting in Alamogordo. “We are responsible for the health, safety and well-being of our citizens, and the current conditions of the forest warrant this emergency action.”
Dr. Lawrence Garrett, former Dean of the College of Eco-Science at Northern Arizona University, testified before the commission on Tuesday that forest health conditions and fire danger in and around Otero County are some of the worst he has seen in the southwestern portion of the United States. He will work with federal agencies on behalf of the county to create the plan to allow for the cleanup of the forest areas, including commercial logging. “We will use the approach of restoration at the watershed level,” Dr. Garrett told the commissioners. This is an extremely important period in the history of management of this forest. We must take an aggressive approach to restoration and making the communities in this area safer from high wildfire risks.” Dr. Garrett told the commissioners that he hoped to have an Emergency Forest Plan for a critical area of the forest ready for the Commissioners to implement by September.
Pearce Praises Otero County Commission
Dr. Lawrence Garrett, former Dean of the College of Eco-Science at Northern Arizona University, testified before the commission on Tuesday that forest health conditions and fire danger in and around Otero County are some of the worst he has seen in the southwestern portion of the United States. He will work with federal agencies on behalf of the county to create the plan to allow for the cleanup of the forest areas, including commercial logging. “We will use the approach of restoration at the watershed level,” Dr. Garrett told the commissioners. This is an extremely important period in the history of management of this forest. We must take an aggressive approach to restoration and making the communities in this area safer from high wildfire risks.” Dr. Garrett told the commissioners that he hoped to have an Emergency Forest Plan for a critical area of the forest ready for the Commissioners to implement by September.
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