Land Witness Project

Firefighters responding to the 2022 Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire reported nearly 2,500 retardant drops as they fought the blaze that destroyed hundreds of homes in Northern New Mexico, according to data the federal Forest Service provided Source New Mexico.

Where those drops occurred — and what was in the retardant — is the subject of renewed interest after an independent geologic study discovered elevated levels of potentially dangerous contaminants, including arsenic, antimony and uranium, in 72 private wells in the burn scar, mostly in Mora County.

Kate Zeigler, the geologist who discovered the metals, has said fire suppressants are a likely culprit behind at least some of the contamination, noting that many of the newly discovered contaminants exist in fire retardant and are not naturally occurring.

She also stressed other possible sources of contamination, noting fire suppressants “are most likely not the sole and only source.”

Zeigler also reviewed the drop data and believes it could be incomplete. She is asking people who witnessed the fire to send any evidence they have of suppressant drops to her team. As she’s conducted tests, she’s heard multiple reports of retardant dropped in Monte Aplanado and near Morphy Lake, for example, areas that do not appear in the Forest Service data.

“We’ve been trying to chase down anecdotal stories of people coming back to a house coated in pink dust,” she told Source in an email, referring to the characteristic pink color of the retardant.

Ad reported by Patrick Lohmann New Mexico

On Sept. 23, Emily Rees was planting thousands of seedlings of New Mexico vervain, a purple wildflower beloved by pollinators, on the plateau above the Rio Grande Gorge near Taos when she received a phone call telling her to stop.

That morning, Rees and Medietta’s employer — the Institute for Applied Ecology, a conservation nonprofit focused on protecting native seeds, pollinators and habitats across the Western U.S. — received 30 federal award cancellation notices from agencies overseen by the Department of the Interior.

In New Mexico, where the IAE had been monitoring 12 rare plants on BLM land affected by oil and gas development, cuts to that project forced the group to lay off three crew members, said Silber. The institute had also just begun work on a project to plant native grasses in the Chihuahuan Desert for wintering grassland birds. Now, however, “the seed is just sitting in our warehouse,” said Silber, who added that it won’t remain viable for more than a few years. “We had a contractor who was going to do that seeding, and so they’ve lost $30,000 and we had less than a month’s notice to cancel that,” she said, noting that that the federal grant cuts have had “ripple effects on the species, on the contractors, on our staff.”

As reported in High Country News by Cecilia Nowell, November 17th 2025

Update on the rodent poison documented at near the Bosque, shared by

FYI, the poison has been removed from this location. Thank you for contacting Pesticide Compliance Department a the New Mexico Department of Agriculture took action that also did a followup inspection.

Schrader said the project began as restoration of a patch of land by the river on the west side of Santa Fe River Road that had been degraded by city equipment and rock materials.

River Source decompacted the soil, added native plant grass and flower seeds, and worked with volunteers and staff to plant milkweed plants in a series of catchments.

DiLoreto has remained passionate about helping pollinators in the years since and praised River Source for the work it did cleaning up the patch of earth and helping stabilize it to prevent erosion. She credits McDonald and Zoe Isaacson, current river and watershed manager for the city of Santa Fe, for their support of the project.

“Zoe made it happen,” she said.

A lot of people have helped sustain the garden since it was first planted in March. DiLoreto said the volunteer response has been “phenomenal,” noting that when a friend went to sign up for a watering shift in April they had already all been taken and she had to take a May slot instead.

“The response has been really wonderful,” she said.