New Mexico Forestry Division

NPS categories to be addressed: Silviculture, road construction.

The New Mexico Forestry Division's forest resource management programs involve the 

application of both regulatory and voluntary silvicultural BMPs on State and private forest lands 

in New Mexico.

Through the federally supported Cooperative Forestry Assistance Program, the New Mexico 

Forestry Division provides technical forest resource management assistance to landowners and 

recommends application of NPS pollution BMPs in all silvicultural activities. Types of technical 

assistance range from reforestation to harvesting of mature timber. This assistance is designed to 

meet a wide range of landowner management objectives. In conjunction with these programs, the 

New Mexico Forestry Division has technical responsibility for application of forestry practices in 

federally funded landowner cost share programs that includes the Forest Health Improvement 

Program (FHI), which specifically addresses forest health issues and forest management 

planning, as well as various thinning programs that address wildfire threats to communities and 

watersheds.

The New Mexico Forestry Division has regulatory authority over all harvesting of commercial 

forest products where more than 25 acres are harvested from an individual private ownership in a 

calendar year. Harvesting is conducted under a permit issued by the New Mexico Forestry 

Division. As a requirement of the permit application, a harvest plan defining what will be 

reserved after harvest and how steep slopes will be treated to minimize soil erosion, as well as 

minimizing any potential impacts to stream courses, must be prepared. In addition, regulations 

require that all roads, skid trails, and landings be water barred and reseeded. Following 

completion of harvesting activities, New Mexico Forestry Division personnel complete a 

silvicultural water pollution-NPS assessment to determine the types of BMPs applied.

The Forestry Division provides technical assistance to partner agencies and organizations on 

matters related to forestry, wildland fire and watershed health. Some partnerships are formalized 

through legal agreements. A Cooperative Agreement between the Division and the Natural 

Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) provides for a shared staff position to serve as the New 

Mexico NRCS’ State Forester, and the Division’s District staff serve as Technical Service 

Providers to NRCS Field Offices, Area Offices, and cooperators. A Financial Assistance 

Agreement with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) enables the Division and BLM to 

collaboratively develop cross-jurisdictional, landscape-scale forest and woodland restoration 

treatments for improving forest health and resilience and decreasing wildland fire threat to 

forests, woodlands and watersheds. In other cases, partnerships are formed to implement grantfunded activities that promote watershed health and water quality. The Division also partners 

with sister agencies to support common state objectives, such as managing the Watershed Health 

and Management Subcommittee for the Office of the State Engineer’s Drought Task Force.

Forest and Watershed Health Office

The Forestry Division established the Forest and Watershed Health Office (FWHO) to facilitate 

and coordinate implementation of the New Mexico Forest and Watershed Health Plan. The Plan 
contains twenty recommendations for state-level actions needed to achieve ecological restoration 

across New Mexico’s landscapes. 

FWHO coordinates with other entities to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of mutual 

efforts to protect and restore New Mexico’s landscapes. The Forest and Watershed Health 

Coordinator chairs the Coordinating Group, whose members represent 20 agencies and

organizations and the private sector. The Coordinating Group informs and advises the FWHO 

and makes recommendations to the State Forester in its role as the Watershed Management 

Subcommittee. The FWHO, together with other Division staff, the Coordinating Group and its 

task teams, implement action items recommended in the Plan.

FWHO contributes to watershed health and water quality directly through collaborative project 

planning, oversight, and implementation and through grantwriting to fund such projects. FWHO 

participates in state and regional groups and advisory bodies involved in natural resource policy, 

legislative analysis, grant development and proposal evaluation, outreach and education, and 

strategic planning, which pave the way to more and better work getting done on the ground.