US Forest Service FB

New Mexico — In recent months, the look of the forest along and around N.M. 518 near Taos has changed, as implementation of the Carson National Forest’s McGaffey Forest and Rio Grande del Rancho Watershed Restoration project has thinned and harvested tens of thousands of trees from the area. The project was proposed in 2018, and underwent review under the now-gutted U.S. National Environmental Policy Act in 2023. A Tussock moth outbreak had already changed the look of the landscape… The insect damage is a symptom of what foresters say is the central challenge facing Northern New Mexico’s forests: overgrowth due to a century of fire suppression in fire-adapted landscapes. Forestry professionals’ response to the simultaneous, large-scale, landscape-altering projects was to celebrate what they consider the culmination of years of work and planning. Conversely, many nearby residents are shocked by the thinning and timber harvesting. And where they used to see trees, conservationists now see degraded wildlife habitat.