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People in New Mexico brace1 for other issues a menacing wildfire will create
As the largest wildfire in New Mexico's history continues to grow, efforts to prevent mudslides and protect drinking water are underway.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
The biggest fire in New Mexico's history is still growing, and officials are struggling to prevent mudslides and protect the clean water that's especially precious in the arid3 southwest. From member station KUNM, Alice Fordham reports.
(SOUNDBITE OF AIRPLANE FLYING OVERHEAD)
ALICE FORDHAM, BYLINE4: Firefighting aircraft buzz over Las Vegas, N.M., as the Calf5 Canyon6/Hermits Peak fire continues raging to the north. But here, city utilities director Maria Gilvarry is already contemplating7 the aftermath.
MARIA GILVARRY: So this area that we're looking down on is directly over - it's over the Gallinas River.
FORDHAM: Gilvarry has driven us to look down at a rocky canyon onto the city's only water source.
GILVARRY: It's sad 'cause this whole mountainside, just a little over a month ago, was - looked like that section down there - tall, green pine trees.
FORDHAM: Now, there's maybe a two-mile stretch of the blackened remnants of tree trunks and ashy moon dust.
GILVARRY: All of those - possibly hundreds of thousands of former bushy pine trees at some point are going to come down.
FORDHAM: Without intervention8, in a few weeks, the southwestern rains known as the monsoon9 will likely wash away the trees and soil, contaminating the river and clogging10 the treatment system. Gilvarry is working with engineers.
GILVARRY: To find ways to create debris11 barricades12 - something to hold back these trees.
FORDHAM: She's having lots of meetings with FEMA, Army engineers, with forestry13 officials. This kind of work can cost tens of millions. Back in her office, I ask who's going to pay.
GILVARRY: Depends on who's the entity14 that's responsible for that area. They're going to have to help find who's going to help pay for it.
FORDHAM: Debate about who foots the bill may drag on. The fires that got out of control here were started as planned burns by the U.S. Forest Service. New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham has called for the federal government to pay for the damage, and such debates are likely to become more common.
FERNANDO ROSARIO-ORTIZ: The fire season you keep hearing - that used to be so many months over the summer. Now, we're getting to be year-round.
FORDHAM: This is Fernando Rosario-Ortiz, a professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder15. He studies the effect of fire on water sources.
ROSARIO-ORTIZ: The major forested areas in the western United States - you know, that's when we see fires, but that's also where we're getting the water from.
FORDHAM: According to government data, about 80% of the U.S.'s freshwater resource originates on forested land. Rosario-Ortiz says there's more planning for wildfire impact on water.
ROSARIO-ORTIZ: I've worked directly with utilities in the East Coast, even in the upstate, where maybe you don't think so much about fires, but it's not hard to fathom16 a future where fires can impact on New England as well.
FORDHAM: In New Mexico, some smaller communities don't think they're going to get help soon.
(SOUNDBITE OF FOOTSTEPS ON SAND)
FORDHAM: In the town of Chacon, which has about 115 homes, I hike up into the charred17 mountainside with Jerry Martinez (ph), who manages water here.
JERRY MARTINEZ: It's going to be a mess when the rain gets here. If we get the monsoons18 that we normally get, all of this will be down in that canyon in there.
FORDHAM: That will contaminate the water used for livestock19 and crops. He also says, after the fire, a spring used for drinking water has changed course.
MARTINEZ: It's pitiful. I don't know what the answer is.
(SOUNDBITE OF CAR DOOR CLOSING)
FORDHAM: And as we drive out of the valley, a gust20 of wind teases a little plume21 of smoke as we watch flames lick up and begin to burn another mountainside.
For NPR News, I'm Alice Fordham.
1 brace | |
n. 支柱,曲柄,大括号; v. 绷紧,顶住,(为困难或坏事)做准备 | |
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2 transcript | |
n.抄本,誊本,副本,肄业证书 | |
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3 arid | |
adj.干旱的;(土地)贫瘠的 | |
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4 byline | |
n.署名;v.署名 | |
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5 calf | |
n.小牛,犊,幼仔,小牛皮 | |
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6 canyon | |
n.峡谷,溪谷 | |
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7 contemplating | |
深思,细想,仔细考虑( contemplate的现在分词 ); 注视,凝视; 考虑接受(发生某事的可能性); 深思熟虑,沉思,苦思冥想 | |
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8 intervention | |
n.介入,干涉,干预 | |
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9 monsoon | |
n.季雨,季风,大雨 | |
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10 clogging | |
堵塞,闭合 | |
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11 debris | |
n.瓦砾堆,废墟,碎片 | |
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12 barricades | |
路障,障碍物( barricade的名词复数 ) | |
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13 forestry | |
n.森林学;林业 | |
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14 entity | |
n.实体,独立存在体,实际存在物 | |
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15 boulder | |
n.巨砾;卵石,圆石 | |
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16 fathom | |
v.领悟,彻底了解 | |
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17 charred | |
v.把…烧成炭( char的过去式);烧焦 | |
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18 monsoons | |
n.(南亚、尤指印度洋的)季风( monsoon的名词复数 );(与季风相伴的)雨季;(南亚地区的)雨季 | |
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19 livestock | |
n.家畜,牲畜 | |
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20 gust | |
n.阵风,突然一阵(雨、烟等),(感情的)迸发 | |
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21 plume | |
n.羽毛;v.整理羽毛,骚首弄姿,用羽毛装饰 | |
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