Valencia County Community Wildfire Protection Plan

SWCA worked with the communities of Valencia County, New Mexico, to develop a community-level CWPP that would serve to protect the people, infrastructure, and natural resources of the Rio Grande valley, including the municipalities of Los Lunas and Belen, from catastrophic wildfire. The CWPP involved considerable public input through organized meetings and attendance at public events. Work on the Valencia County CWPP integrated existing GIS datasets to develop a risk assessment framework for the forested, agricultural, riparian, and developed communities within the project area.

The Core Team was made up of a wide variety of stakeholders, including local, state, and federal agencies; soil and water conservation districts; environmental advocacy groups; homeowner associations; tribes; and private landowners. Creating the CWPP involved a collaborative effort that identified and prioritized areas for hazardous fuels reduction and recommended realistic measures that homeowners and communities could take to reduce the ignitability of structures throughout the area. The County has successfully used the CWPP to secure funding to develop a community focused homeowner guide, expand their wildfire program, and initiate a program for individual wildfire hazard assessments.