Minutes of Colfax County Coalition of Firewise Communities Board Meeting
July 26, 2007
Held at the New Mexico State Forestry Cimarron District office in Ute Park, 10:00 am - 11:00 am

Attendees: Joe Stehling, Linda Pavletich, Ernie Lopez, Bob Brown, Diana Johnson, Jody Gray, and Alan Huerta.

The meeting began with updates from member communities. Hidden Lake has chipper mornings scheduled for the first week of August. Joe Stehling said that Whitney Hite had told him that the chipper would now be under his (Hite's) control and that it should only be operated on county property. This would virtually halt the chipping program. We discussed working with Hite and the other commissioners to preserve our chipping program.

Elk Ridge is continuing to thin several lots. Diana Johnson said that the Taos Pines fire station is in progress and an open house is planned for September 1. Ute Park had a successful chipper day event on July 21 (held on county property at the Ute Park Fire Station).

Karen Lightfoot, the state Firewise liaison, is planning a trip to the area July 31 - August 2. Coalition members will meet with her at 1 pm Tuesday July 31 at Joe Stehling's house. After the meeting, the group will tour Hidden Lake and Elk Ridge, then proceed to tour Shields Survey. On Wednesday, the group will tour Idlewild, Ute Park, and possibly Cimarron. On Thursday, the group will tour Vermejo Park Ranch and Santa Fe Trail Ranch.

Ernie Lopez said that the New Mexico State Forestry Division website has a link to CWPPs including some local documents. He also suggested that we invite the county commissioners to meet with our coalition. Joe Stehling said he would invite the commissioners to Tuesday's meeting at his house.

State Farm insurance agent Nicolas Lezama has previously indicated that he might be able to get partial funding for some distributions of Firewise materials, especially if State Farm fire safety brochures were included. It was generally agreed that this was a good idea.

Action Items:

Joe Stehling will invite the county commissioners to next Tuesday's meeting.

The next meeting was set for 10:00 am Thursday, August 23, 2007, at the State Forestry Division office in Ute Park.