Cerro Pelado Fire Update

8.4.23 – Gene Grant talks to the Line Opinion Panel about a report from the U.S. Forest Service that shows the agency was responsible for starting last year’s Cerro Pelado Fire, due in part to a holdover fire from a prescribed burn the service conducted in the area two weeks prior. Gene asks the panel why the Forest Service was tight-lipped about its discovery and asks how it can win back public trust.

Host: Gene Grant

Line Opinion Panelists:
Paula Garcia, executive director, New Mexico Acequia Association
John Fleck, professor, water researcher at UNM’s Utton Center
Elizabeth Miller, independent journalist

For More Information:

Forest Service improperly withholding fire records, attorney says – Albuquerque Journal

Navigating the Cerro Pelado Fire Rumor Mill – Our Land

Cerro Pelado Fire, plus: Rio Grande goes from rip-roaring to muddy & dry – Our Land

Forest Service report finds Cerro Pelado Fire sparked by agency prescribed burn – Santa Fe New Mexican

Forest Service makes changes to prescribed burning after Hermits Peak Calf Canyon Fire – KRQE