20 Communities Cost-share Program

A property owner applies for the 20 Communities Cost-share Program through New Mexico State Forestry, Capitan District. Once accepted, the property owner is responsible for hiring a contractor and ensuring the work is completed. Barbara Luna, Capitan District Forester or Bill Duemling, Service Forester, conducts assessments (identifies trees for removal), compiles paperwork, conducts inspections and submits the paperwork to the county for repayment. The county then sends the bill to the Capitan District who creates and sends a purchase order to the Division of Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resources (EMNRD), the parent agency for NMSF. Once approved, EMNRD issues payment to the County.

The reimbursement rates for the 20 Communities Cost-share Program is dependent on whether the project type is for defensible space or thinning and if the property is categorize as light, medium or heavy. Square foot basal area per acre is used to determine the category of the property. Most properties in Ruidoso have been in the heavy category. Defensible space is for properties less than an acre in size with a house located on the site. Trees are thinned to a specified basal area, all forest litter is removed and remaining trees are pruned to 5 feet above the ground. The defensible space reimbursement rate is 70% of $600/acre for light, $1150/acre for medium and $1700/acre for heavy thinning. The reimbursement rate for thinning is $550/acre for light, $950/acre for medium and $1150/acre for heavy thinning. Thinning is designed for properties greater than one acre in size and involves thinning excess trees and slash treatment. Slash treatment ranges from lopping and scattering, handing piling for later burning, or chipping and hauling. A property owner gets credit for in-kind work at a rate of $15.39/hour. The landowner submits an invoice for the whole cost, with dates, receipts, spreadsheets, etc. The program pays for 70% of the final cost or the maximum reimbursement rate, which ever is less. Often 70% of the actual cost exceeds the maximum reimbursement rate cap amounts. At these prices, the 20 Communities Cost-share Program has become known as "gourmet forestry".

Small diameter timber utilization

How to best use timber and slash resulting from thinning projects poses a problem for Ruidoso. Leaving the wood on the ground either in whole or chipped form attracts pine beetles to an already unhealthy forest. A declining timber industry leaves few utilizers for the wood. Niche businesses are trying to fill in where other industries are unable to accommodate. Small businesses geared to utilize the small diameter timber (SDT) are encouraged through federal grant programs funded by National Fire Plan monies. Grants from the Rural Community/Economic Development Program, Collaborative Forest Restoration Program and Four Corners Sustainable Forests Partnership have contributed over $650,000 into developing small businesses that utilized SDT in Ruidoso.

There are four different types of SDT utilization in Ruidoso. Sierra Contracting uses 1-5" diameter timber for mulch and compost. Sherry Barrows Strategies (SBS) needs 4-12" diameter timber for production of wood shavings. Bear Carvers take 6" diameter and up for their work. Firewood gatherers and furniture makers take all sizes.

Transportation issues

Transportation issues are a challenge for utilization at present. Transportation costs are prohibitive to get products where they need to be and still turn a profit. For instance, the SBS factory is 17 miles outside of Ruidoso. It becomes a 30-40 mile round trip to transport SDT. There is a time cost issue that creates a disincentive for contractors hired for thinning the acreage. Ideally an entrepreneur would emerge to fill the transportation niche. While the emerging companies exist, landowners cannot support utilization at an additional cost to them, so costs get passed on to contractors. But, the contractor can realize savings if they don't need to prepare the timber for transporting. Contractors need additional money to skid, buck and deck the SDT, if they have the right equipment to get the timber to the utilizers. The prevailing perception is if a government entity pays landowners or contractors more to facilitate transportation, then you are subsidizing utilization. One side believes people need to let the market work to fill this niche. An opposing view believes the fledgling industry needs support to become viable in the short and long term.

Bart Parsons has been one person who has tried to fill the transportation gap. Parsons was skidding with a riding lawn mower. He needed a skid and wrote a Four Corners Grant to purchase a six wheel drive Polaris ATV and a 5th wheel truck that has a grapple and a cable. When Parsons put this together, SBS was the only SDT utilizer in business. He had a contract with her, but could not turn a profit at the cost per load that SBS could offer and needed to renegotiate. It remains to be seen how these emerging niche industries in transportation and utilization can become viable in the long term. What is clear is that they are an important part in creating a comprehensive approach to the wildfire hazards facing communities.

 

Sherry Barrows Strategies (SBS)

The vision of Sherry Barrows, founder of SBS is to create "a big eco-circle". Utilization is an effort to get things moving. SBS makes wood shavings for animal bedding and requires 4-12" diameter timber. The end product is 9 cubic feet of wood shavings pressed and bagged in 3 cubic feet bales shipped to Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Texas, and Oklahoma. The shavings are made from fire mitigation/fuel reduction, forest and watershed restoration by-products. The wood shavings project is an attempt to close the restoration cycle. When geared up to full production capacity, SBS can use up to 125 cords of wood a week.

SBS is part of a new industry picking up where the past sawmills in the region left off. Previously, New Mexico had 9 sawmills in the state. But when logging started to decline, the industry relocated elsewhere. There are barriers for the new emerging utilization industry stemming from people who remember how the old timber industry used to be.

In 2001, SBS received a Collaborative Forest Restoration Program (CFRP) grant, Economic Action Program (EAP) grant and a Four Corners grant totaling $404,250 for equipment upgrades and production design. SBS also received a CFRP and a EAP grant in 2002 totaling $143,250 for further equipment and production upgrades.

Due to low value of the SDT it has been difficult for utilizers to obtain the raw product and turn a profit without assistance. Transportation of the raw SDT to the utilization facility is a big barrier. Niche industries are needed to get the SDT from the thinned site to the utilizer.

 

Sierra Contracting

Ruidoso deals with slash from thinning through a contract with Van Patton, owner of Sierra Contracting. The nearest landfill is in Oro Grande in Almagordo, 81 miles away. The tipping fee in Almagordo is $13.90/ton. Patton charges $3.75/cubic yard. Having a nearby cost-effective site is imperative for Ruidoso's municipal thinning program to work.

Patton has been working in debris utilization since 1999. He originally burned debris with an air curtain destructor, which is a big pit with a fan, but the liability insurance made it too costly. In 2000, Sierra Contracting moved to compost and mulch sales. Patton sells the material in bags and in bulk. Retail nurseries and landscaping companies are the main customers. The biggest challenge is getting people to use the products. Patton spends considerable time marketing his products to create or increase demand. Patten is working to get a contract with New Mexico State Highway to use his mulch for filter berms instead of silt fences.

Sierra Contracting has a tub-grinder used to make compost and mulch. The cost for transportation to Patton's site is covered by his contract with Ruidoso. At present Sierra Contracting is overwhelmed and needs more space for the slash coming off municipal properties. The company bought an adjoining 5-acre lot in 2002 and is expanding the compost-mulch operation.

In 2001, Patton received an Economic Action Program (EAP) grant for $85,000 for an over the road truck to facilitate delivery of the product to Las Cruces. Out of this grant he spent $75,000 on the truck and $10,000 on marketing. In 2002, Van also received a $90,000 EAP grant for a roll off truck (used), roll off containers and a slide off grapple. The truck helps with his work in Lincoln County and with the Village to pick up slash. Sierra Contracting takes approximately 200-400 cubic yards/day.

He sells the compost for $5/cubic yard and the mulch for $3/cubic yard. He currently breaks even, mostly because of the contract with Ruidoso.