County Connections - March 2024

San Juan County, New Mexico sent this bulletin at 02/29/2024 02:45 PM MST

County Connections - March 2024

Household Hazardous Waste Disposal Day- March 23

If you are doing some spring cleaning and come across some stuff that shouldn't go in the trash, we have a great way for you to dispose of unwanted chemicals, batteries, and lightbulbs for FREE!
Through a partnership between the San Juan County Office of Emergency Management and Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC), residents of Bloomfield, Kirtland and the unincorporated part of the county can dump their household hazardous materials on Saturday, March 23, 2024 from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm at the County administration building in Aztec. (Residents of Aztec and Farmington can get household hazardous waste picked up curbside through Waste Management as a part of their utility bill).

Please, no waste generated by a business.

Learn More

Important Dates

Tuesday, March 12 @ 4:00 pm- San Juan County Commission Meeting
Tuesday, March 12, 9am-5pm- Candidate Filing Day
Saturday, March 23, 9:00am to 1:00 pm- Household Hazardous Waste Day
Tuesday, March 26 @ 2:00 pm- San Juan County Commission Special Meeting
Friday, March 29- Good Friday (County offices closed)

County Calendar

Progress!

Thanks to capital outlay in the 2023 legislative session, work has begun to replace the aging Rabbit and Poultry Barns at McGee Park.
The old structures are gone and dirt work is underway for the new, bigger structure.

The new barn is expected to be complete before the San Juan County Fair, which is planned for August 10-18

Hot Topics

Are you tired of winter yet? Plenty of folks are longing for the days of shorts and sandals and outdoor activities in above 60 degree weather. However, we have already been tracking the forecasts for the upcoming fire season.

This winter has been about average for precipitation. According to LSU, the northwest plateau (basically San Juan, Rio Arriba, and McKinley counties) winter precipitation between October and January, has been under 4", which is only slightly below 'normal.'

We are also closely tracking the 90-day fire weather outlook which shows March and April with a normal fire risk and the overall risk trending toward a normal fire season. "Normal" means there will be fires. The new outlook to include May is issued on March 1.

We will continue to be vigilant as we anticipate the very early spring fires popping up in dead brush and leaves. In the spring we will look at the green up, and how much new fuel is growing, then the rest of the season will depend on moisture that could keep the green alive, or let it dry out and fuel fires.

As you start cleaning up in the spring, make sure you are thinking about dead brush, limbs, leaves, and weeds that are too close to structures. Buying time for firefighters to respond could mean saving your house.

If you do your part to keep your home and property safe from wildfires, we will be able to do ours.
And for us, wildfire season has already started. That includes trainings in February, where several members of the SJCFR wildland team attended the Four Corners Wildfire Academy in southwest Colorado. Not only are we learning, our staff are instructing several classes in this academy. Our crews will be prepared to work locally and we hope to have crews available for assignments across the southwest.