N.M. Admin. Code § 20.11.21.18

Current through Register Vol. 35, No. 20, October 22, 2024

Section 20.11.21.18 - ALTERNATIVES TO BURNING

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.

N.M. Admin. Code § 20.11.21.18

20.11.21.18 NMAC - N, 12/31/03; A, 7/11/11