New Mexico Forest Restoration Principles Announced
by Diverse Task Force

May 17, 2006 — In an unprecedented collaborative effort, 13 organizations jointly announced the release of the New Mexico Forest Restoration Principles that will reduce conflict and legal challenges for forest harvesting projects in New Mexico. The 18-member New Mexico Biomass Evaluation Task Force announced today publication of 18 principles for the design and implementation of forest restoration projects that would produce small-diameter wood used to fuel biomass power plants and other wood utilizing facilities.

The New Mexico Forest Restoration Principles came after representatives from a diverse group of land management agencies and conservation organizations spent almost a year working together to achieve a set of principles that they all support.

The group was formed after Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM) approached the USDA Forest Service in 2004 about ways to secure a large scale supply of woody material for use in biomass burning power plants in the State. PNM estimated they would need about 7.7 million tons of biomass over a 30-year plant life for a single 35 mega-watt plant. This equates to about 260,000 tons per year, or 735 tons per day. Removing an average of 20 tons of biomass per acre and still leaving an intact forested landscape could result in about 35 acres per day or 10,000 acres per year being treated.

Southwestern Regional Forester Harv Forsgren said, "I congratulate PNM and the Task Force for their hard work to come up with a common set of Principles. We will continue to follow our existing Forest Plans and on-going environmental studies in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act. These Principles will be a helpful addition for the five national forests in New Mexico to use when doing environmental studies for many forest restoration projects."

The amount of biomass fuel needed for the PNM project, presented a potential challenge since people have differing views on how the land management agencies should remove fuels, reduce the wildfire threats to communities, and still leave healthier forests in a more natural state. Use of these principles would reduce controversy and potential legal challenges for forest restoration projects of this magnitude, while ensuring that both ecological and economic goals are met.

Todd Schulke who represented the Center for Biological Diversity on the Task Force said, "The long-term viability of any biomass utilization plant depends on buy-in from people who care deeply about forest lands in New Mexico. The agreement embodied in the Principles is unprecedented in my experience."

New Mexico State Forester Butch Blazer said, "It's my belief that because of the Task Force's work, we will see significant reductions in time lost due to the kind of red tape that can affect these kinds of fuels reduction projects in New Mexico. I also believe these could be used by other southwestern states."

Brent Racher, a task force member from Restoration Solutions, a company that specializes in high-volume biomass harvesting, said, "These Principles are great. I think they will help get reliable supplies of biomass, create viable new businesses, improve forest health, and reduce the threats of wildfires for communities in New Mexico."

"These principles will augment the on-going range and forest restoration programs that are in place at the Land Office," said Commissioner of Public Lands Patrick Lyons. "I appreciate the effort of everyone involved who is helping facilitate policies that can be shared by government agencies and conservation groups across the Southwest."

The New Mexico Forest Restoration Principles can be found at: http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/spf/

New Mexico Biomass Evaluation Taskforce Primary Contact List: