Spring, so once again the Organs are burning. The Sun News this morning said it was 11,500 acres and there is no reason to put it out; Yesterday's paper blamed it on a live fire exercise on Fort Bliss that could have been put out the first day had the military not ignored it. The contractor supplying the quote was not identified.
The fire is on the east side of the Organs, and the low, gray cloud just above the mountains in the picture is smoke. Earlier in the week we could see a little of the glow, but the mountains are deeper than they look, and even after the fire crests the eastern ridge, there is still a lot of landscape before it heads down the western face.
We had spring fires in 2008, 2010, and now 2011, and never before that since moving here in 1990. I suspect we will continue to have these fires after years when the summer rains produce abundant grass and as long as the US is focused on Afghanistan.
Pictures of Afghanistan show a mountainous, rocky terrain that reminds me of New Mexico. I am not the only one who noticed the resemblance. The US Military built an Afghan village in the Organs, complete with real Afghans. And military personnel at Ft. Bliss have confirmed to me the our terrain is similar to that of Afghanistan. I think the fires are here until live-fire exercises in the Organs are not relevant to our defense efforts.
The birds are not liking it. Last week I added mountain bluebird and white-throated swift to the yard list.
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