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The U.S. Forest Service on Tuesday announced it will issue $248 million in payments to help rural schools surrounding national forest lands maintain critical infrastructure and ensure wildfire preparedness, with $11.2 million going to New Mexico counties.

鈥淭hese funds support critical infrastructure, while advancing active forest management and restoration that keep forests resilient and communities safer,鈥� Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz said. 鈥淲e remain committed to deliver this support directly to rural communities that depend on these resources.鈥�

The funds come through the , which the Forest Service has reauthorized annually since 2000, awarding a total of $2.4 billion to rural schools over the past decade alone.

The allocations can be used 鈥渢o sustain public schools, maintain local roads, and support other essential services in rural communities,鈥� according to an agency spokesperson, who responded to the Journal on Tuesday. 鈥淲ildfire preparedness can be a significant focus area that gets funded through this mechanism, but this funding is not solely allocated for wildfire preparedness.鈥�

The majority of funds New Mexico received were awarded to Catron County, which received $3.29 million. Catron contains schools surrounding three national forests: the Cibola to the northeast, the Gila to the south and the Apache along the New Mexico-Arizona border to the west.

New Mexico contains five national forests, totaling just over 9 million acres. The state ranked modestly among its Western neighbors for single-highest allocations for the funds, which were allocated from fiscal year 2025 budgets but will be awarded in the current fiscal year.

Oregon received the single-highest allocation of all 50 states and Puerto Rico, with an award of $53.19 million to serve school districts surrounding more than 15 million acres of national forests.

While Secure Rural Schools funds can be used for more than wildfire mitigation, the Forest Service announcement on Tuesday emphasized the need to mitigate fire risk this year.

The monies can be used to support Firewise Communities education programs, reimbursements for emergency services on national forests and supporting the development of Community Wildfire Protection Plans, according to a Forest Service news release.

The announcement comes during a high-risk early start to wildfire season across the western U.S., with record-low snowpack throughout the region keeping forest managers and acequia leaders in New Mexico on high alert. Several national forests have enacted burn bans, and the New Mexico Forestry Division last week issued its own set of fire restrictions for non-municipal, non-federal and non-tribal lands.

The funds awarded this year come from the fiscal year 2025 Title I, Title III and 1908 Act, which Congress ratified to support rural communities whose tax base shrank as federal lands expanded in the 20th century.

The act was updated in 2000 with the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act, which set aside annual allocations to communities surrounded by federal lands that had previously benefited from shares from the timber industry.

Since 1908, roughly a quarter of Forest Service revenue from timber sales, mineral leases, livestock grazing, recreation fees and other sources has been shared with states and counties containing national forest lands.

John Miller is the sa国际传媒官网网页入口鈥檚 northern New Mexico correspondent. He can be reached at jmiller@abqjournal.com.