Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

National Fire Plan banner

National Fire Plan Success Story

Timber Mountain Prescribed Burn
New Mexico
National Fire Plan - Community Assistance
2010

A picture of the communication sites before the prescribed burn.
A picture of the communication sites before the prescribed burn.

The 2,350 acre Timber Mountain prescribed burn was a joint project between the BLM Las Cruces District and the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish. The complete project is approximately 4,350 acres. The burn had several objectives including protect communication infrastructure on the top of the mountain, improve habitat for desert bighorn sheep and mule deer, and reintroduce fire to the ecosystem. There are numerous communication towers on top of the mountain, some of which are for emergency services for surrounding counties and communities; the nearest county and community is Sierra County, Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. The fuels were fairly dense in that area. In 2005, a thinning project was done to create a buffer around the towers, and the piles were subsequently burned. This buffer allowed crews to work around the towers during ignition. The ignition around the towers was completed by the Sacramento Hotshots. After the towers had a good blackline, the hotshots continued ignitions down the hill to take advantage of the favorable weather conditions.

Aerial ignition was scheduled to take place next. The project had one day to complete the aerial ignition and was able to complete the burn. Crews worked hard to protect fence lines and cultural sites prior to and the morning of aerial ignitions, which was all part of the success of the burn.

Local resource managers and the fuels staff worked diligently to convince the permitee that the burn would be beneficial and work with him on his rest rotation. In the end, he was very pleased with the project and is ready to do it again and add acres to the next project.

Future plans may be implemented to potentially re-burn the area in the next year or two, due to the fact that the conditions were not quit what was needed to get the desired effects on some of the aerial ignition phase. The New Mexico Dept of Game and Fish is planning to augment the herd of Bighorns this fall with a release of sheep.

Contact: Ryan Whiteaker, Las Cruces District, (575) 525-4342.