Abstract
In 2022, New Mexico experienced its worst documented wildfire season on record, and the Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon Fire was the largest among them. Over 340,000 acres of Northern New Mexico burned, devastating a multi-generational, subsistence community. In response, Congress passed the Hermit’s Peak Fire Assistance Act, the second-ever act of its kind to provide full and expeditious compensation for wildfire damage. Yet, more than four years later, many community members still have not received any funding and litigation continues over whether the Act is meant to provide noneconomic damages. This Comment outlines the steps of the rulemaking process to argue that whether a community feels heard by an agency is integral to an act’s ultimate effectiveness. In response to the Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon Fire, the Federal Emergency Management Agency largely copied the regulations promulgated under the Cerro Grande Fire Assistance Act, legislation passed two decades prior to compensate the wealthiest community in New Mexico after a Forest Service fire. As a result, the Federal Emergency Management Agency adopted an initial rule that was unresponsive to the distinct needs of the communities of Mora and San Miguel Counties. Culture should be a central component of effective disaster response and recovery.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Kieran Raney,
Adapting the Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon Fire Assistance Act to Address the Needs of the Community it was Meant to Serve,
66
Nat. Res. J.
233
(2026).
Available at:
https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/nrj/vol66/iss2/4
