The Las Vegas District Office is located at the south end of Storrie Lake State Park, just north of the city of Las Vegas. This district covers a wide array of landscapes from the southern Rockies, “the Sangre de Cristo Mountains”, the mesa country, and out into the eastern plains of New Mexico--all the way to the Texas border. This district includes six counties: San Miguel, Mora, Quay, Curry, Guadalupe, and Harding.

The primary goals of the Las Vegas District are to work with private landowners and cooperators to help improve forest, riparian and watershed health, develop and sustain healthy urban forests, assist with the management of non-native invasive plant species, and to encourage the successful growth of businesses that depend on forest and timber resources. All project success depends on strong public support. The Las Vegas District staff encourages landowner participation in statewide programs like Smokey Bear Fire Prevention, Forest Health Initiative, American Tree Farm System, Re-Leaf, Seedling, Urban and Community Forestry. The combination of forest and water restoration efforts--along with utilization of value-added products from such restoration projects--will only benefit the forests and the people that depend on them for water, work, and a successful traditional way of life.

Shannon.Atencio@state.nm.us

SHANNON ATENCIO is the Las Vegas District Forester.  She started with State Forestry as a seasonal wildland firefighter while working toward her bachelor's degree in Natural Resource Management from New Mexico Highlands University.  She went on to become the District's Timber Management Officer and New Mexico Invasive Weeds Program Manager for several years before taking on her current leadership role as District Forester.  Shannon works with various division programs that range from Urban and Community Forestry to timber management to wildland urban interface.  She also supports the district with her wildfire qualifications.  Shannon is the Las Vegas District Regional Coordinator for Firewise Communities.

Jarrod.Duran@state.nm.us

JARROD DURAN is the Las Vegas District Fire Management Officer (FMO). Jarrod has extensive experience and knowledge of wildland fire. He grew up in Mora, NM and started his career as a wildland firefighter with the Mora Volunteer Fire Department shortly after graduating from high school. Jarrod quickly moved up the ranks becoming an Engine Boss and a Type 4 Incident Command Team Leader through training he received from the State Forestry Division. Mr. Duran joined the Forestry Division as an Administratively Determined (AD) firefighter in 2005 and became the Las Vegas District FMO in 2018. As the FMO he works closely with local governments on Community Wildfire Protection Plans (CWPP), assists rural fire departments with acquiring funding for firefighting equipment, and participates in many other projects.

MarioD.Rael@state.nm.us

MARIO RAEL is the Special Projects Forester for the district. Mario is a Las Vegas, NM native with a bachelor's degree in Forestry, Chemistry, and Biology from Highlands University. He comes to the Forestry Division after working as an Engineer Tech III with the NM Department of Transportation (NMDOT) Survey Department. Mario's extensive background in New Mexico also includes wildland firefighting with the Forestry Division for 10 years, working as a member of the USFS Santa Fe Hotshot Crew, forest contractor, miller, logger, mapper, surveyor, and mineral analyst for the State Land Office. Outside of the state he has been a tree planter in Walsenburg, Colorado and picked Black Morel mushrooms in Montana. As the Special Projects Forester, Mario will perform site visits and write multi-resource management plans for land managers and private property owners, manage thinning projects, and work with cooperators to advance projects in the wildland-urban interface (WUI) among many other important natural resource tasks.

evette.ulibarri@state.nm.us

EVETTE ULIBARRI is the Administrative Management Officer for the Las Vegas District. Evette started with the Forestry Division in 2015 as an AD dispatcher for the district. Evette manages all of the business operations for the district, including procurement, budgeting, purchasing, and timekeeping for Division AD firefighters.

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