There are big plans to keep the Village of Cloudcroft and the surrounding area safe from wildfires. The Lincoln National Forest, along with other state and federal agencies, is planning a forest restoration and hazardous fuels reduction project.

Thursday night, Caleb Finch, the District Fire Management Officer for the Sacramento Ranger District, laid out the plan for the community.

“It will restore the forest around the village of Cloudcroft, and then two, also reduce the overall risk of a wildfire impacting the village of Cloudcroft through the reduction of some of those hazardous fuels, as we call them, and ultimately protect the forest and the community.”

They’re looking at nearly 3,000 acres, which Finch says is a long-term project.

“It could last several years. There’s a lot of elements that come into play. There’s a lot of planning that’s taken place up to now.”

Finch says it’s not all prescribed burns, there’s commercial thinning, mastication, and fuelwood removal for the community.

“The purpose of this project is to restore the forest. we want to retain the old-growth timber. we want to make this forest resilient to wildfire. not fireproof, but resilient,” said Finch.

While a project like this might bring up some concerns for the community Finch says they are not worried.

“We just are not seeing any potential negative impacts to what we’re proposing. When you look at the impacts of the negative impacts of a wildfire, the catastrophic side, there are a number of impacts. so what we’re doing is going to mitigate those negative impacts and actually reduce them.”

He added the village sees a lot of tourism and the start of a wildfire could be devastating.

“It’s important for the community to understand what we as the United States Forest Service, the federal government, New Mexico State Forestry, and these local coalitions are doing together to protect these communities,” said Finch.