PEEC Hosts USGS Ecologist for Free Talk on Jemez Mountains Fire Ecology

Dr. Ellis Margolis, a field ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey whose research centers on fire history and forest dynamics, will bring that work directly to Los Alamos on Monday, April 13, when the Pajarito Environmental Education Center hosts a free public presentation titled "Fire Ecology and Changing Fire Regimes in the Jemez Mountains." The talk runs from 7 to 8 p.m. in the Los Alamos Nature Center planetarium and will be live-streamed for remote attendees. Registration is available through PEEC's events page at peecnature.org.

Margolis's research sits at the intersection of climate, land use, and fire behavior, topics that carry specific weight for a county whose communities occupy the Pajarito Plateau, a landscape shaped by large crown fires and increasingly vulnerable to conditions that produce them. His presentation will synthesize recent findings on how fire frequency, intensity, and spatial patterns are changing across the Jemez Mountains, and what those shifts mean for local ecosystems, water supplies, cultural resources, and community safety.

The talk is expected to cover historical fire regimes in ponderosa pine and mixed-conifer forests, including how past fire suppression and changing land use have accelerated fuel accumulation across Northern New Mexico. Margolis will also address current management responses: prescribed burning and mechanical thinning, along with the tradeoffs each approach involves. The program includes an audience Q&A segment, giving attendees direct access to a researcher whose findings feed into land management decisions throughout the region.

The scientific backdrop is urgent. Recent research across New Mexico documents longer fire seasons, rising temperatures, and deepening fuel loads converging to raise the probability of large, severe wildfires. Applied ecologists like Margolis study how departures from historical fire regimes alter both fire behavior and post-fire forest recovery, exactly the kind of technical grounding that informs county and federal prescribed-fire planning as well as household-level decisions about defensible space.

PEEC's hybrid format, planetarium seating plus a live stream, extends the reach of what would otherwise be a room-capacity event, making fire-science research accessible to anyone in the region with a connection. The April 13 presentation is free and open to the public.