Extreme Drought

I attended a meeting today that included representatives from the US Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management, as well as our local Office of Emergency Management where the current Drought Map for Colorado, effective today, was distributed.

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As can be seen, most of La Plata County is designated Exceptional Drought and about half of San Juan County is the same. What do we share in common besides that designation? The answer is obvious, the D&S railroad. The Forest Service guy mentioned that northern New Mexico is in as bad or worse condition and there could be a total closure of the Carson National Forest in New Mexico which is pretty close to Chama. A total closure means no entry to anyone for any reason, including forest service personnel. This has happened before in New Mexico but not yet in Colorado. Fire conditions are dire and so far conditions have been closely monitored. The Forest Service will be moving in fire crews from Montana and other wetter western states into the San Juan National Forest in the forthcoming weeks. The BLM, headquartered out of Montrose, does not have as high a fire danger yet.