SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — About half of the money set aside earlier this year by New Mexico lawmakers to help cities and counties recover from a historic wildfire has been allocated by the state.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s office announced Wednesday that nearly $47 million in no-interest loans have been approved for road repairs and culvert restoration in San Juan and Mora counties. Those counties were hit hard by the Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak Fire in 2022.
The blaze — the largest in the state’s recorded history — was sparked by prescribed burn operations conducted by the U.S. Forest Service. Now, residents in the burn scar are preparing for another season of post-fire flooding.
Canadian officials say heavy rain in Quebec in recent days missed the places where wildfires are most active, and they expect air quality to remain a concern through the summer, as long as the fires continue.
Smoky air from Canada’s wildfires is shrouding broad swaths of the U.S. from Minnesota to New York and Kentucky.
Canadian officials say rainfall likely won’t be enough to extinguish the wildfires ravaging northern Quebec, but the wet weather could give firefighters a chance to get ahead of the flames as the country surpassed the record for area burned by wildfires this week.
Drifting smoke from the ongoing wildfires across Canada is creating curtains of haze and raising air quality concerns throughout the Great Lakes region, and in parts of the central and eastern United States.
“As I continue to urge the federal government to expedite the resources they owe northern New Mexicans, we will push forward together to make sure New Mexicans are taken care of in the meantime,” Lujan Grisham said in a statement.
The state funding was unanimously approved during this year’s 60-day legislative session and took effect immediately after being signed by the governor on Feb. 20.
Mora and San Miguel counties are the only local governments to apply for the funding so far. State officials say they are working with others to identify projects and ensure applications and implementation complies with federal and state requirements so that the loans will eventually be covered by Federal Emergency Management Administration’s public assistance program.
State lawmakers who represent residents within the burn scar said the recovery process will be long and difficult.
“It is critical that we maintain hope and a positive momentum in the wake of this disaster and the myriad aftereffects still emerging on a daily basis,” said Sen. Pete Campos, a Las Vegas Democrat who sponsored the emergency fire loan bill.
The governor also issued 21 executive orders Tuesday for emergency funding totaling more than $15 million for wildfire recovery work and to reimburse other states that helped during the initial response.
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