The new fuels management plan for Moon Mountain benefited from lessons learned in a wildfire that swept over the mountain in March 2016, Ruidoso Forestry Director Dick Cooke said.
The wildfire illustrated how reducing the number of trees, spacing groupings, eliminating lower branches and clearing away underbrush lessens the impact of a fire and improves the ability of firefighters to contain a blaze and prevent it from reaching nearby homes.
Cooke recently sent a draft of the new fuels management plan to the New Mexico State Land Office for review, because much of the mountain consists of state trust land being leased long-term by the village for recreational development. "When we acquired the lease on Moon Mountain, I drafted a fuel management plan for the area we acquired.