Recovering From a Devastating Wildfire

Black Fire Watershed Restoration Action Plan focuses on creating resources for bats in the Gila National Forest
By Annika Hipple
View from the crest of the Black Range looking east into the Mud Spring Canyon watershed. Nearly 80% (9,107 acres) of the watershed burned during the 2022 Black Fire.
Photo: Elizabeth James
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n 2022, the devastating Black Fire burned 327,263 acres in New Mexico’s Gila National Forest. Now, scientists from Bat Conservation International (BCI) are partnering with the U.S. Forest Service to initiate restoration projects that were identified in the 2024 Watershed Restoration Action Plan (WRAP) to guide recovery. BCI served as the lead author on the WRAP, in partnership with the Gila National Forest.

The Gila National Forest provides critical habitat for more than 20 species of bats, including Allen’s big-eared bats (Idionycteris phyllotis), fringed myotis (Myotis thysanodes), Townsend’s big-eared bats (Corynorhinus townsendii), and western red bats (Lasiurus frantzii). Twenty-two of the 24 watersheds included in the WRAP burned—the other two suffered downstream impacts from upstream burning—leaving a patchwork of intact forest surrounded by fire-impacted areas.

The WRAP is a comprehensive roadmap for recovery that identifies restoration projects to improve the health of ecosystems and their resilience to changes in the climate and environment while also enhancing watershed conditions for the benefit of bats, fish, and other wildlife.

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In 2022, the devastating Black Fire burned 327,263 acres in New Mexico’s Gila National Forest.
Close-up circular shaped digital image display showing a pale-colored bat (Townsend's big-eared bat: Corynorhinus townsendii) with large ears and open mouth mid-flight in air against a black background; Its wings are fully extended, revealing their translucent, veined structure
Townsend’s big-eared bat (Corynorhinus townsendii) is one of more than 20 species of bats that lives in the Gila National Forest.
Photo: Michael Durham / Minden Pictures
“It gives us a lot of room to figure out what projects we want to happen,” says Elizabeth James, BCI’s Southern New Mexico Project Manager. “It is an overarching planning document for a huge swath of undisturbed area.”

Bats, like other animals, need water, shelter, and food, all of which are key elements of the restoration plan. Priorities include restoring forests that provide roosting and foraging habitat, as well as ensuring watersheds have adequate water quality, vegetation, and aquatic organisms.

“We’re restoring riparian areas—floodplains, wetlands, ponds, wet meadows. They are really critical for bats and other wildlife,” says Aaron Sidder, BCI’s Compliance and Ecology Coordinator. “A real focus of what we’re doing is creating standing and pooled water for drinking and to support invertebrate populations that bats eat.”

“We’re restoring riparian areas—wetlands, ponds, wet meadows. They are really critical for bats and other wildlife. A real focus of what we’re doing is creating standing and pooled water for wildlife to drink.”
—Aaron Sidder
Close-up circular shaped digital image display showing two male individuals, one in a dark brown cowboy-style fedora hat and black colored sunglasses and the other in a light sky blue colored hooded sweatshirt using a large, two-person crosscut saw to cut a fallen tree trunk; The ground is rocky and littered with debris, and more dead trees are visible in the background, suggesting a fire-affected area; These individuals happen to be a part of the BCI restoration team preparing logs that will be used for stream restoration; Process-based stream restoration activities to restore natural stream function will be a focus of watershed recovery
The BCI restoration team prepares logs that will be used for stream restoration. Process-based stream restoration activities to restore natural stream function will be a focus of watershed recovery.
Photo: Dan Taylor
The plan also focuses on roosting areas. “Some bats roost in cottonwoods, and if all the riparian areas have been scoured post-fire and they’re not holding water, there’s nowhere for cottonwoods to regenerate,” James explains. The WRAP also includes assessments and protections for caves that are known to be bat habitats.

As wildfire activity increases and becomes more severe, with more frequent large fires over a longer season, forests face more burned acreage, drier soils, and more stress on water resources. Restoring and protecting these resources is essential to maintaining long-term biodiversity.

“Nature is pretty resilient, and I’ve been really happy to see that a number of systems are starting to bounce back on their own,” Sidder says. “Our goal is to help the ecosystems and give them a little push so that some of these habitat elements can come back more quickly for bats.”

“I’m really excited to do this work,” James says. “We know that watershed restoration positively impacts bat habitat, and starting to do some more of this monitoring and work around our restoration sites is going to start to fill in a lot of gaps in the research. Our restoration program is maturing and this is an amazing opportunity to show what we can do when you give us the space and resources.”

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