THE JEMEZ MOUNTAINS SIT ABOVE THE RIO GRANDE IN NORTHERN NEW MEXICO.

THEY ARE AN ICONIC PART OF OUR LANDSCAPE AND CULTURE.

MANY VISITORS BEGIN A TRIP TO THE AREA AT BANDELIER NATIONAL MONUMENT.

WE ARE RIGHT HERE IN THE HEADQUARTERS AREA, IN FRONT OF THE MAIN LOOP TRAIL, WHICH IS ONE OF OUR MAIN ATTRACTIONS.

AND IF YOU COME HERE, YOU WON'T NOTICE MUCH OF A DIFFERENCE.

VISITORS COMING TO THE PARK TODAY, SIX YEARS AFTER LOS CONCHAS, WHAT ARE THEY GOING TO SEE WHEN THEY COME HERE?

THE LOS CONCHAS FIRE BURNED OVER 60% OF THE PARK AND THEN WE ALSO HAD MAJOR FLOODING FOLLOWING LOS CONCHAS, THE MOST SEVERE IN 2013 THAT CAUSED A LOT OF ADDITIONAL DAMAGE.

A LOT OF WHAT WE HAVE BEEN DOING FOR THE PAST SIX YEARS SINCE THE FIRE AND FLOODS HAS BEEN EMERGENCY RESPONSE, TRYING TO GET OUR INFRASTRUCTURE BACK IN PLACE, REBUILDING TRAILS, THE PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE YOU SEE DOWNSTREAM THERE.

THAT WAS WASHED OUT.

LOST 40% OF OUR PARKING.

OUR INITIAL WORK WAS TRYING TO GET THE PARK BACK OPEN TO THE PUBLIC, MAKE SURE IT WAS SAFE AND PEOPLE HAVE A DEEP EMOTIONAL CONNECTION TO BANDELIER AND TO THIS LANDSCAPE.

YOU TALK TO PEOPLE IN THE COMMUNITY, THEY TELL STORIES ABOUT FISHING WITH THEIR GRANDFATHER IN THE BEAVER PONDS AND THEY TALK ABOUT THE CHILDREN GOING INTO THE WATERFALLS, OR GOING INTO THE BACK COUNTRY AS BOY SCOUTS AND THOSE ARE IMPORTANT CONNECTIONS PEOPLE HAVE.

WITHIN LESS THAN A GENERATION THESE PLACES HAVE CHANGED SO DRASTICALLY THAT THOSE EMOTIONAL CONNECTIONS HAVE BEEN IMPACTED.

WE HAVE LARGE AREAS OF PONDEROSA FOREST OR MIXED CONIFER FOREST THAT TRANSITIONED INTO SHRUB AND GRASS LANDS AND WE DON'T KNOW IF THEY ARE GOING TO REGENERATE NATURALLY, OR IF THEY ARE SORT OF A MORE PERMANENT TYPE OF FOREST THAT WE HAVE AND WE ARE TRYING TO FIGURE THAT OUT RIGHT NOW.

SO 30 YEARS AGO, THIS AREA WOULD HAVE BEEN PRETTY DENSE WITH WHAT WE CALL MIXED CONIFER FOREST, FOREST THAT IS MADE UP OF PONDEROSA PINE, DOUG FIR AND WHITE FIR.

THIS AREA, PRETTY TYPICAL NORTHERN NEW MEXICO MIX OF TREES IN THAT KIND OF HIGH ELEVATION.

THIS AREA HAS BURNED TWICE, ONCE IN 1996 DURING THE DOME FIRE AND AGAIN IN 2011 DURING LOS CONCHAS.

SO THIS AREA PROVIDES A POTENTIAL FUTURE FOR WHAT THE NEW JEMEZ COULD LOOK LIKE IN THE FUTURE AND WHAT WE CAN SEE OUT HERE, IS WHEN WE LOOK OUT TOWARDS THE SAN MIGUEL MOUNTAINS, WE CAN SEE THESE GRAY PATCHES OF STICKS IN THOSE SHRUB FIELDS AND THOSE WERE SERVING AS THE MOTHER TREES TO REGENERATE THE FOREST MOVING FORWARD.

ONE OF THE MOST REMARKABLE THINGS ABOUT LOS CONCHAS WAS THE SIZE OF THE HIGH SEVERITY PATCHES.

BY HIGH SEVERITY WE MEAN THE PATCHES THAT WERE LEFT ESSENTIALLY WITHOUT ANY LIVING TREES, SO, NO SEED SOURCES.

IN SOME PLACES IN LOS CONCHAS, THOSE HIGH SEVERITY PATCHES WERE 30,000 ACRES.

PONDEROSA PINES ARE NOT WELL ADAPTED TO RECOVER AFTER HIGH SEVERITY FIRE AND SO WHEN YOU GET THESE LARGE PATCHES OF HIGH SEVERITY FIRE, PONDEROSA PINE DOESN'T HAVE ANY ADAPTATION, NO MECHANISM FOR IT TO QUICKLY AND RAPIDLY RECOLONIZE THESE PATCHES.

AND, SO, THE AREA THAT WE ARE LOOKING AT, THE AREA THAT WE ARE STANDING AT WITHOUT A SEED SOURCE NEARBY IS LIKELY TO REMAIN FREE OF PONDEROSA PINE FOR AT LEAST THE NEXT 100, 200 YEARS.

WE KNOW THE LANDSCAPE IS GOING TO WARM UP.

WE DON'T KNOW HOW MUCH IT IS GOING TO WARM UP.

WE DON'T KNOW IF THIS LANDSCAPE CAN SUPPORT PONDEROSA PINE IN THE FUTURE.

MAYBE IT IS BETTER FOR US TO LOOK AROUND AND TRY TO UNDERSTAND WHAT THIS SYSTEM IS PROVIDING FOR US, WHAT THE BENEFITS ARE OF THIS SYSTEM, HOW THIS SYSTEM MIGHT INTERACT WITH DROUGHT, SHRUB LAND AND GRASSLAND ARE A MORE RESILIENT SYSTEM IN THE FUTURE.

SO, THIS IS COCHITI CANYON AND IT WAS ALL PART OF THAT FIRST DAY RUN OF LOS CONCHAS.

THE LANDSCAPE CHANGED DRAMATICALLY AND QUICKLY BUT FOR PEOPLE WHO WORK HERE, WHO LIVE HERE, THERE ARE STILL REASONS TO LOVE THIS PLACE.

I KNOW PEOPLE THINK JEMEZ MOUNTAINS IS BURNED UP AND DEVASTATED AND THERE IS NOTHING UP HERE.

I THINK THERE IS A LOT OF REASONS FOR HOPE AND A LOT OF REASONS TO STILL CONSIDER THIS LANDSCAPE TO BE MAGICAL AND BEAUTIFUL AND WONDERFUL AND STILL A LOT OF REASONS TO RECREATE AND ENJOY THE LANDSCAPE HOWEVER PEOPLE ENJOY THE PUBLIC LAND.

THESE CHANGES AREN'T UNIQUE TO BANDELIER AND THEY ARE NOT UNIQUE TO JEMEZ MOUNTAINS OR NORTHERN NEW MEXICO.

THESE TYPE OF CHANGES WITH HIGH SEVERITY WILDFIRE AND LONGER, HOTTER DROUGHT THAT IMPACT THE VEGETATION FORESTS ARE HAPPENING ALL OVER NEW MEXICO AND THE AMERICAN SOUTHWEST.

AS TEMPERATURES GET HOTTER AND DROUGHTS BECOME MORE SEVERE, WE SEE MORE OF THESE FIRES AND MORE CHANGES ACROSS THE ENTIRE WESTERN U.S.

SO I THINK IT IS IMPORTANT FOR ALL OF US TO CARE ABOUT THESE CHANGES AND WHAT THEY MEAN, NOT JUST TO RECREATION BUT TO LOCAL COMMUNITIES WHO HAVE THE EMOTIONAL CONNECTIONS TO THE PLACE AND TO TRIBES WHO USE THE LAND AND COLLECT PLANTS AND MATERIAL HERE FOR HUNDREDS OR THOUSANDS OF GENERATIONS.