Large Forest Closure in Jemez, New Mexico

A large forest closure was announced yesterday for the Jemez Ranger District in New Mexico. 

The order is effective until Dec. 31, 2022, unless rescinded earlier.

For climbers, this means all climbing at Las Conchas, Upper East Fork, Area 37, Capulin Canyon and bouldering near Ponderosa is CLOSED, effective yesterday (4/26/2022). From what I can tell, basically all climbing areas in Jemez are closed except Gilman Tunnels .

The closure order and map can be found here:
https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd1015737.pdf

 The order closes all Jemez Ranger District Forest Service lands defined by:

• NM Highway 4 on the west
• Valles Caldera National Preserve on the north
• Bandelier National Monument on the east
• and Zia Pueblo and Santo Domingo Pueblo on the south

Thanks for the heads up Anna. It is going to be a long summer. 

Seriously!

That’s really early, but I suspect that it gets lifted once the current fire is out and we get some significant moisture (if we get significant moisture).  

It also looks like UEF and Dungeon may be open. Hard to tell with UEF by the closure map. 

The closure map says everything north up to the Valles Caldera and that looks to include the UEF walls when I check the boundary lines on my mapping app. 

It's really early for forest closures but certainly necessary given the dry, windy conditions coupled with the active Cerro Pelado fire. UEF is definitely within the closure area but areas closer to Los Alamos, like the Dungeon, are well away from the current closure area. Here's hoping for the Cerro Pelado fire to settle and for some significant moisture in the very near future. 

Isn’t the Dungeon on National Forest land, not County Open Space?  Anyway, I assume that it would be pretty smoky right now. 

The current banner on the LANL webpage (with timestamp 5/6/2022 04:45 pm) says the Laboratory is also going to Stage 3 fire restrictions tomorrow.

The CDT Coalition is reporting that the entire Santa Fe National Forest will go to Stage 3 (closed) as early as Monday.

https://continentaldividetrail.org/2022/05/13/nm-usfs-closure/?fbclid=IwAR3CMcxPSB5Pe9DJjzryTOjxtY-IG8QgkUdF2BYx375M44nMMDvPPC2lwLA

Anna Brownwrote:

A large forest closure was announced yesterday for the Jemez Ranger District in New Mexico. 

The order is effective until Dec. 31, 2022, unless rescinded earlier.

For climbers, this means all climbing at Las Conchas, Upper East Fork, Area 37, Capulin Canyon and bouldering near Ponderosa is CLOSED, effective yesterday (4/26/2022). From what I can tell, basically all climbing areas in Jemez are closed except Gilman Tunnels .

The closure order and map can be found here:
https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd1015737.pdf

 The order closes all Jemez Ranger District Forest Service lands defined by:

• NM Highway 4 on the west
• Valles Caldera National Preserve on the north
• Bandelier National Monument on the east
• and Zia Pueblo and Santo Domingo Pueblo on the south

As far as I can tell, the closure is no longer, except for in a much smaller area: https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd1046766.pdf

Can anyone confirm?

Capulin is still closed. Las Conchas trail, white rock, valles caldera are all open. 

My understanding is ALL Jemez climbing areas, including Capulin Canyon, are now open. Capulin opened up last week.

Call the Jemez Ranger Station to confirm. 

Pond and The Satellite are confirmed open, I was up that way last Saturday. 

I think the only outstanding climbing area closures right now are Comales Canyon, El Rito Sport Area and El Rito Trad Area. Please correct me if I’m wrong.