News brief
New Mexico and Idaho were among the five states with the most acres burned by wildfires in 2022.
With the devastating Calf Canyon/Hermit's Peak fire being the , it鈥檚 no surprise New Mexico claimed the second spot with 859,906 acres burned, behind only Alaska, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. Idaho ranked No. 5 with 436,733 acres.
The numbers don't include acres burned in prescribed fires. Doug Cram, a forest and fire specialist at New Mexico State University, says if they did, he鈥檇 like to see New Mexico at the top.
鈥淎cres burned isn鈥檛 really the number we鈥檙e interested in, it鈥檚 the severity of the fire. If we鈥檙e No. 1 in low-severity acres, that would be great,鈥� said Cram.
: As of December 31, 2022, the states with the most acres burned from wildfires are Alaska, New Mexico, Texas, Oregon and Idaho. More statistics will be published in the NICC annual report that should be available by February 1, 2023.
— National Interagency Fire Center (@NIFC_Fire)
鈥淚t鈥檚 sort of a 'pay me now or pay me later' environment,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to have fire one way or the other 鈥� how would you like your forest to burn?鈥�
Cram says the West needs to become 鈥渂etter burners鈥� and weave prescribed fires into the culture more, so that when fires do happen, there鈥檚 less to burn and they're less severe.
鈥淭he culture in New Mexico in August is, 鈥榃e expect to smell green chile roasting.鈥� And so this culture of burning is like 鈥� maybe we have a culture of pile burning in the winter and broadcast burning the spring,鈥� Cram said, referring to the need for greater adoption and acceptance of prescribed fire.
Wildfires burned about 58,402 acres in Nevada, 45,732 acres in Colorado, 27,245 acres in Utah and 25,767 in Wyoming, according to an email from Carrie Bibao of the National Interagency Fire Center.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, the O'Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West in Montana, KUNC in Colorado, 九色网 in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the .
