Current through Register Vol. 35, No. 18, September 24, 2024
As required by Subsection C of
20.11.21.15
NMAC, burners engaged in PB-II prescribed burns are required to consider the
use of alternatives to burning, which include department-approved alternatives,
as well as those listed in 20.11.21.18 NMAC. An effort will be made by the
department to remove administrative barriers to the utilization of alternatives
to burning.
A. Manual/handwork -
Handwork involves picking up and moving limbs and brush, as well as cutting
downed and standing materials using hand tools or chainsaws. Manual work
involves lifting, cutting, and carrying forest materials, and is generally
limited to materials of roughly nine inches or less in diameter. Larger
materials can be handled, but efficiency, production rate and safety decrease
rapidly as size increases. If the fuels requiring treatment exceed the
nine-inch-diameter threshold, handwork is not a good option.
(1) Cut and scatter - Hand crews cut and
scatter material to change the vertical and horizontal continuity of the fuel
load. This technique increases the surface fuel load by redistributing ladder
fuels onto the ground surface. It is appropriate where stand density is
generally low and existing surface fuels are shallow.
(2) Pile - Cut material is piled,
redistributing the fuel load rather than reducing it. Piling can be used in
denser stand conditions than scattering can, because the piles can be situated
to avoid fuel-loading problems. Drawbacks to piling include: slower
decomposition than when scattered, labor intensive and dense stand conditions
can result in a high number of piles.
B. Mechanical treatments - Employ equipment
as the primary means of modifying or removing fuels. Generally, treatment areas
must be within one-quarter mile of a road and have slopes less than 40 percent.
(1) Pile - Cut material is piled,
redistributing the fuel load rather than reducing it.
(2) Fuel modification - Machinery is used to
process the material into smaller pieces that can then be redistributed on the
ground surface or removed from the site. Because materials processed in this
fashion can be much more densely packed than materials that are scattered by
hand or piled by hand, the available oxygen supply is reduced, thereby
inhibiting spread of fire and flame height.
(i) Masticate/mow - Mastication involves the
processing of standing or downed material where it occurs. Mastication is more
suitable for denser stand conditions than is scattering or piling, and the
redistributed fuel load decomposes more rapidly. It is most appropriate for
treating both green and dead ladder fuels and the higher surface fuels. Mowing
is primarily appropriate to treat grassland and light shrub land habitats. Like
mastication, mowing processes the vegetation material on site and in
place.
(ii) Chip/grind/cut -
Material is placed into a piece of equipment and discharged, often through a
chute. Because of this feature, material can be processed more selectively and
transported off site for either disposal or utilization. It is the method of
choice when biomass utilization is an option.
(iii) Crush - Another form of mastication;
this technique is useful primarily for shrub land habitats dominated by brittle
species.
(3) Tree removal
- Numerous approaches to tree removal have been developed as the timber
industry has evolved to operate in a variety of habitats and under myriad
political and economic constraints.
(i) Bole
removal - This is traditional harvesting. Trees are felled either by hand or
mechanically and removed from the site for processing. Bole removal eliminates
the vertical continuity of the fuel load, but increases surface fuels with the
addition of leaf/needle and limb materials. Overall biomass is
reduced.
(ii) Whole tree yarding -
Trees are felled either by hand or mechanically. The entire tree is then
brought intact to a staging area where they are processed. This method removes
the vertical continuity of the fuel load, removes biomass, and adds very little
to the surface fuel load. Moreover, the removal of leaf/needle and limb
material is more important than bole removal in the context of fire behavior.
Only suitable for trees 9-18 inches in diameter in order to avoid damage to
soil and water quality caused by felling trees greater than 18 inches in
diameter.
(iii) Cut-to-length
logging - Utilizes specialized equipment to cut and process entire trees on
site in the forest. While much of the biomass either remains onsite or must be
addressed through secondary treatments, an important advantage of this
technique is its efficacy in treating material of very small
diameter.
C.
Chemical - Chemical treatments entail the application of herbicides. Chemical
treatments do not remove fuel, but kill existing vegetation or inhibit growth
(i.e. maintenance of defensible fuel profile zones).
D. Grazing - Involves the use of livestock,
primarily cattle and goats, to manage the growth and composition of brush and
grasses. While it is of limited utility in forested habitats, it can be an
effective technique in rural residential areas, in the wild land-urban
interface and in selected grassland and shrub land habitats.
