President Biden scheduled to visit New Mexico this week

SANTA FE -- President Joe Biden is scheduled to visit New Mexico this week for a briefing on the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon wildfire that has scorched nearly 500 square miles of wilderness and private property, and displaced thousands of residents from rural villages over the past two months.

Biden is scheduled to meet with Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, firefighters, Federal Emergency Management Agency workers and others during his Saturday visit to the state Emergency Operation Center in Santa Fe.

It was unclear if he planned to visit Northern New Mexico communities affected by the fire.

“The governor looks forward to discussing the continuing federal response to the state’s wildfires as well as her request that the federal government shoulder all costs associated with firefighting and recovery,” Lujan Grisham’s spokeswoman, Maddy Hayden, wrote in an email.

Lujan Grisham recently asked Biden to direct the federal government to pay 100 percent of costs associated with fighting the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire, as well as recovery efforts.

The wildfire is the result of two blazes that began from prescribed burns conducted by the U.S. Forest Service in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains northwest of Las Vegas, N.M. They combined to become the largest wildfire in recorded state history that so far has charred well over 300,000 acres.

Fire suppression costs exceeded $132 million — and were growing by $5 million per day — when the Forest Service announced May 27 the Calf Canyon Fire had been caused by a “sleeper fire” left over from a pile burn in January that reemerged in April after lying dormant through three snowfalls, according to the Governor’s Office.

The Hermits Peak Fire ignited when a prescribed burn in April raged out of control.

The federal government will now cover those costs, the Governor’s Office said, but Lujan Grisham has made a separate request that it also cover a broad range of other fire-related costs and “emergency measures.”

The fire is about 60 percent contained, and officials are bracing for aftereffects, which could include flash floods, erosion and compromised water quality.

“I appreciate the U.S. Forest Service assuming responsibility for the federal actions that caused this terrible crisis,” Lujan Grisham said in a statement issued after the announcement on the cause of the Calf Canyon Fire.

“It is evident that the federal government must take a hard look at their fire management practices and make sure they account for a rapidly changing climate,” she added.

New Mexico’s Democratic congressional delegates — U.S. Sens. Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Luján, and U.S. Reps. Teresa Leger Fernández and Melanie Stansbury — issued a statement welcoming the news of Biden’s upcoming visit.

“We are pleased President Biden will visit New Mexico to see firsthand and discuss the recent wildfires that have devastated so many communities, homes, and businesses across the state,” the delegates said in the statement.

They said they looked forward to working with the White House to address the climate crisis driving the wildfires and the “federal wildfire practices that contributed to this disaster.”

“We believe that President Biden’s visit will prove to be a critical component to move these discussions forward as we continue pushing for legislation that better prepares federal agencies, increases support for wildland firefighters, protects our watersheds, and provides compensation for New Mexicans who have suffered losses,” the statement said.

State Senate Republicans also weighed in on Biden’s visit.

“In addition to restitution, the people of our state need assurance that he is serious about changing how the federal government manages our forests,” Sen. Cliff Pirtle of Roswell said in a statement.

“Mr. President, we need you to see the destruction of our state at the hands of your government,” added Senate Minority Leader Greg Baca of Belen. “We need you to come with eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart intent on action. If this is nothing more than a political gesture, do not waste the jet fuel.”