Ethan Alvarez

Dry, hot NM weather brings higher risk of wildfires

Even as the decades-long drought in the Southwest continues, New Mexico is experiencing an unusually dry winter that could result in increased wildfires.  Most wildfires in New Mexico occur in mid-elevation mixed conifer forests, where fire suppression and human activity has increased fuel loads that would historically burn every five to 25 years. The Director of the University of New Mexico’s Center for Fire Resilient Ecosystems and Society, Professor of Biology Matthew Hurteau, said some of the causes of severe wildfires are related to human intervention in natural fire cycles.