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This undated photo provided by the Philmont Scout Ranch shows members of the Philmont Recovery Corps moving a ball into place for a new contour along a charred slope. The historic ranch near Cimarron, New Mexico, is rebuilding itself after a devastating forest fire that burned nearly 44 square miles in 2018. The backcountry trails were wiped out, as well as the developed camps. (Philmont Scout Ranch via AP)
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Nestled at the foot of the mountains of the Southern Rockies, the Philmont Scout Ranch has become a holy grail, its wilderness and backcountry treks that attract more than one million Scouts and other adventurers from the United States. In the last 80 years.
For many who have spent time in mountain retreats, they can not get enough. It gets in the blood, it's contagious and that's why there was so much grief last year when a forest fire devastated the heart of the ranch.
Dozens of kilometers of trails have been swept with the campgrounds, leaving behind a scar that will take years and millions of dollars to restore.
The work is needed, say ranch managers and troop leaders, branding Philmont as the jewel of the testing experience.
"There is just a real sense of loss, a sort of mourning process, so to speak," said Roger Hoyt, longtime Scout Officer and CEO of Philmont. "But in the end, nature is renewing itself and I think tragedy and sorrow come from that sense of renewal and opportunity."
More than half a million dollars have already been collected and reconstruction work is underway, with the installation of 85 new camping sites and work to strengthen some of the ash-covered hills.
Crews were sidelined in January because of the snow, but work resumed at low altitude as the countdown announced for the start of the summer season.
And it will be a record season with a record number of Scouts – probably 24,000 – who should go through Philmont, Hoyt said. Some of them had originally planned to make the trip in 2018, but were derailed because of the fire and the closure of the hinterland.
With nearly a fifth of Philmont blackened, the ranch is not alone in its new mission of becoming more resilient as western land managers face larger and heavier fires. fed by invasive forests and dry conditions.
In 2018, more than 8.7 million acres (13,594 square miles) burned in the United States, most of which is located in the west, according to the National Center for Fire and Fires. Records were broken in California, which suffered its most deadly and destructive fire in November, when the city of Paradise was destroyed and 85 people were killed.
Scientists said the 2018 season was part of a longer trend of larger and more frequent fires in the western United States.
In New Mexico, more than 382,000 acres (597 square miles) burned in 2018 and the state has experienced the largest and most destructive fires ever recorded over the last decade.
Hoyt estimates that Philmont Scout Ranch will spend $ 1 million over the next year on conservation and fire reduction projects. This includes fighting silt from sterile slopes, cleaning the forest floor, thinning trees and creating fuel breaks to prevent fires from spreading to other parts of the ranch. .
Although the work is relatively inexpensive, it requires a lot of work, said Hoyt.
In March alone, 140 volunteers spent more than 6,000 hours on firefighting and restoration projects.
In the next two years, he hopes that pockets of the burned area can be used as an outdoor classroom for visiting Scouts.
On the other side of the country, members of Troop 715 are preparing for this summer's trip to Philmont. The group based in Richmond, Virginia, met over the weekend for a 3-km hiking trip to find out what equipment to bring and which items to take away. They will eventually travel 16 km per day.
Then there is the first aid training and other skills that will help when they are away from civilization, said scout master Steve Tyler, who will be accompanied by his sons, one of whom is a Eagle scout who has just graduated from the US Military Academy. at West Point.
In addition to being immersed in what Tyler calls "a great heavenly country", he added that another highlight is the summit of Baldy Mountain, a summit located on the northern border of Philmont, at 3 373 meters above sea level.
"Here, the horizon is about 100 yards away and you're looking at a big oak," Tyler said of his surroundings of Virginia. "It's so very very different, it's a special experience."
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