Trees burned by the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire stand on the burn scar in September 2022. (Photo by Megan Gleason / Source NM)
U.S. senators from New Mexico, Colorado and Idaho introduced legislation Wednesday to increase funds for local partnerships to prevent water pollution and restore watersheds.
The Headwater Protection act, sponsored by U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Colorado Democratic Sens. Micheal Bennet and John Hickenlooper and Idaho Republican Sens. Mike Crapo and James Risch, will increase funding for two U.S. Forest Service programs.
The bill, if passed, would triple the yearly funding for the Water Source Protection Program for the U.S. Forest Service in order to provide more than $30 million per year for farmers, ranchers, water utilities and local and tribal governments for restoring forests or cleaning up watersheds. The legislation would prioritize giving funds to projects to improve drinking water quality and harden forested areas to wildfire and climate change.
New Mexico is still reeling from the 2022 Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire, the state’s largest wildfire, which burned more than 485 square miles in Northern New Mexico. On Tuesday, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham authorized more emergency funding for flood damages in Mora County and Las Vegas residents have had to drink bottled water for months as the city still tries to recover drinking water supplies since the fire.
Luján said in a statement that the introduced legislation would allow acequias — New Mexico irrigation systems — and land grant-mercedes (areas of land granted by either Spanish or Mexican governments) to apply for these funds for the first time.
“Water is essential to the health and safety of our communities. Protecting and improving our watersheds is critical to ensuring reliable access to clean drinking water and making our forests more resilient against wildfires,” Luján said. “The Headwaters Protection Act will strengthen these efforts by investing in watershed management and pollution prevention.”
A second provision in the bill would require the U.S. Forest Service to update its manual for restoring watersheds and require national forests to be managed to prevent further degradation.
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