Glorieta Mesa? (1 Viewer)

[marcfj60]

Has anyone ever done any exploring on the Glorieta Mesa. It's part of SFNF, south of I-25. I've been looking into alternatives for firewood collection since the Ojo de los Casos fire has closed the firewood collection area in the Mountainair Ranger District (north of Tajique). I think I can get dead and down permits for SFNF and just drive around collecting wood. I've just never explored the area and don't know what to expect. Looking at the MVUM online looks like there's plenty of roads to travel on.

 

[2manycruisers]

Yep, it's a big (relatively) flat mesa with lots of roads. Neat country, but nothing outstanding. It's a favorite wood cutting area for pinyon and juniper and it shows. You can buy permits for green pinyon and juniper on the Mesa in addition to regular dead and down. The P&J are generally larger there than the Caja del Rio, which is another popular area for wood (but I don't recall if they sell green wood permits for that area).

I can't remember if you can buy the green wood permit out of the Santa Fe office or only in Pecos and Las Vegas. Because of COVID, they are selling permits over the phone and mailing them, so it's easy to get them from any office.

 

[marcfj60]

It's a favorite wood cutting area for pinyon and juniper and it shows. You can buy permits for green pinyon and juniper on the Mesa in addition to regular dead and down. The P&J are generally larger there than the Caja del Rio, which is another popular area for wood (but I don't recall if they sell green wood permits for that area).

So you're saying dead and down permits may take a while to fill the trailer with unless I want to hike a ways and drag a bunch back? With the green wood permits, do they mark the trees or you just take what you want? Are the roads decent enough to tow a 6X12 utility trailer in there?

 

[2manycruisers]

I'm really not sure about dead and down up there. They sell tons of permits for green on the mesa. Dead and down can be used forest-wide, so hard to know where people are going (and I haven't been up there in years, now). Nothing is marked for green wood, they just have some specifications--areas not allowed, maximum diameter, etc that the wood thieves ignore. You can definitely take a trailer up there. I'm sure there are some roads that will be rough on it, but generally fine.

 

[krazykat69]

Ordered my wood cut permit for Jemez District yesterday from Jemez Ranger office. Up to 10 cords of wood for $20. Dead and downed only. New this year is it is over the phone payment by Credit Card. They say permits and receipt will show up in my mailbox in 10 days or less. Time to get out the chainsaws and get a few cords into the backyard.
I have not been on Glorieta Mesa.

 

[marcfj60]

Ordered my wood cut permit for Jemez District yesterday from Jemez Ranger office. Up to 10 cords of wood for $20. Dead and downed only. New this year is it is over the phone payment by Credit Card. They say permits and receipt will show up in my mailbox in 10 days or less. Time to get out the chainsaws and get a few cords into the backyard.
I have not been on Glorieta Mesa.

I did the same process for Cibola and got the same 10 cord deal (twenty 1/2-cord permits). They came in the mail within a few days. There is a bunch of decked trees from thinning operations up in the Mountainair Ranger District but access is currently blocked because of a fire from earlier this month. Maybe it's time to just start driving around the area looking for dead and down because they don't permit harvesting of dead standing (which there is a bunch because of the Doghead fire a few years back).