U.S. Southwest Struggles With Warm, Dry Winter

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MADELINE BRAND, host:

More coming up on DAY TO DAY from NPR News.

ALEX CHADWICK, host:

This is DAY TO DAY. In the Pacific Northwest this winter sometimes it seems as though the rain will never stop. And the Central Rockies smothered in snowstorm after snowstorm. But in the Southwest there are new records for the lack of moisture and many people there worry about the regional economy and the upcoming wildfire season. From New Mexico here's reporter Eric Mack.

ERIC MACK, reporting:

Today along a stretch of the Carson National Forest that borders the small community of Taos Canyon forest service employees are literally fighting fire with fire.

Mr. IGGY PERALTA (Fire Information Office, Carson National Forest): What they're doing is they're using a drip torch to ignite the slash that was accumulated over this last summer. They're getting really good consumption, it doesn't take much to get these piles going. Of course, there's a lot of pine fuels in those piles, a lot of the branches with the dried needles on them so they get going pretty good.

MACK: That's Iggy Peralta, who's been helping to coordinate this project to create a fire break between forest lands and the houses at the bottom of the canyon. Over the last decade the Carson National Forest has played host to some of the worst wildfires in New Mexico's history.

Hiking back from the controlled burn sight over an unusually thin layer of snow Peralta recalls a group of lightning caused wildfires that burned huge portions of the forest in 2002.

Mr. PERALTA: Turned out to be the largest fire in New Mexico's history, very dry that year. In fact, 2002 is one of the driest years on record and just a humongous fire season all over the place.

MACK: But so far 2006 is on pace to eclipse the dry conditions that led to that 2002 fire. And thanks to above average snowfall last winter there's plenty of tall dry grasses to add to the fire danger. On the northern side of Carson Forest in the tiny town of Red River Bob Prunty has been the official weather observer for almost six decades, since he took the job over from his brother.

Mr. BOB PRUNTY (Weather Observer, Red River): Oh, it's been in our family since 1932. I took over then in what '47.

MACK: Looking over his library of historical data Prunty says so far this is the driest, hottest winter ever.

Mr. PRUNTY: The big drought through Kansas in '32, now those were the big drought year, during the dust bowl days. And we still received fairly decent precipitation then, but it was not as dry as it is now, nor warm.

MACK: Dry and warm are two words that Geoff Goins hates to hear this time of year. He manages Enchanted Forest Cross Country Ski Area, just a short drive from Red River. Perched on top of a mountain pass at an elevation of nearly 10,000 feet, Goins says he normally has at least three feet of snow on the ground about now. But this winter he didn't even open the area until January 20th, over two months later than usually.

Mr. GEOFF GOINS (Manager, Enchanted Forest Cross Country Ski Area): This is really an economic disaster for the Southwest. It was just a major blow to realize hey, you know, it's forty degrees and there's no snow through December and January and we might be able to recover a little bit, you know, but it's tough.

MACK: The lack of precipitation also has Robin Blackston thinking about tough times. She and her husband own and run a ranch in New Mexico's High Plains, an hour to the east. Run off from the snow that isn't falling in the mountains this year is what normally irrigates her crops and feeds her cattle.

Ms. ROBIN BLACKSTON (Rancher, New Mexico): Because of the way that our water is supplied it's not like we can go to plan B and use ground water or, you know, some alternative method. We have no alternative method, you know. We're just very dependent on the snow and the rain and when we don't have those things we're pretty much stuck.

MACK: February and March are historically wetter months in the Southwest, but the National Weather Service forecasts continue drier than usual conditions for the coming months. For NPR News, I'm Eric Mack.

CHADWICK: And DAY TO DAY returns in a moment.

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