Projects

TAOS CANYON RURAL ADDRESSING

With the Taos County Planning Department, Taos Canyon Firewise and Valle Escondido Firewise Communities are developing regulations for rural addressing signage to aid emergency crews identify residences as they respond to calls.

Taos County can no longer provide the double-sided signs for 9-1-1 addressing on US 64 due to budget constraints.  The TCNA has purchased the same signs from the county supplier and Taos County will supply the numbers for us. Anyone who is a current member of TCNA (or pays $20 to become one) can request a sign by emailing natica@zianet.com with your name with your address for processing.  The county will not assign numbers to vacant land, so you must have a house on the property.

FOREST THINNING

Most of the North Shady Brook Thinning Project is completed. The United States Forest Service (USFS) continues to dispose of the slash.

The Taos Soil and Water Conservation District (TSWCD) still offers Cost-Sharing Programs to thin qualified properties in the canyon. To obtain more information, contact TSWCD, 575-751-0584.

TAOS CANYON LAND USE PLAN

Ordinance 2018-2 for County Land Use Regulations has been adopted. Our neighborhood plan is not yet included.

The document is available at the Taos County Web Site: https://taoscounty.org and here Taos County Ordinance 2018-02 Land Use Regulations PDF

Plans of Neighborhood Land Use Regulations may be considered in the near future.

TAOS CANYON CWPP UPDATE PROPOSAL BEING PREPARED BY TAOS COUNTY

The Taos Canyon Firewise community was begun six years ago with the help of TCNA and has worked hard since to educate its residents about what they can do to minimize the risk of fire danger around their homes.

We recognize that the Taos Canyon area is at very high risk from catastrophic wildfire, largely because of the limited ingress and egress, and steep topography, and the density of trees on private and federal land. Developing an updated CWPP specifically for the residents and property owners in Taos Canyon will allow us to amplify our existing efforts. A new CWPP will improve coordination for wildfire response among community members, local firefighters, and federal land managers. It has also allowed us to jointly prioritize areas for fuel reduction treatments, and improve our chances of successfully accessing funding and other resources to implement those projects.

To that end, here is a link to the first version of the DRAFT 2022 Taos County CWPP Update. This version is in PDF format, and includes several links in the document to other plans, tables and additional resources.

The Taos Canyon Firewise Committee committed two of its members to volunteer at least 25 hours of time to support this project at a total value of $1,250.

Click to Visit the—> Taos Canyon Firewise Community