Bonito Lake closed again as Blue 2 Fire continues to burn
ALAMOGORDO, N.M. (KRQE) – The Blue 2 Fire is causing concerns for the City of Alamogordo and their recreation areas: just one day after announcing that the long-missed Bonito Lake would be reopening for the season, the blaze is now blocking those plans, too.
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It was scheduled to reopen Saturday after being closed since the Little Bear Fire 12 years ago, but now the future is once again uncertain for Bonito Lake.
“Ironically yesterday we had the Fish and Game come in and stock the lake with trout and our plan was to open up the lake tomorrow morning to allow people to come in,” said Rick Holden, city manager for the City of Alamogordo.
Those plans, however, were quickly derailed with news of the Blue 2 Fire encroaching on the scenic recreation area. “Now that this fire has come on board, we’ve received notice this morning from the US Forest Service that in and around the lake will be closed to the public while they battle this fire that has sprung up and in fact has grown overnight,” Holden said.
It’s not the first time Bonito Lake has faced flames: “It went out with a fire, it may come back with a fire,” says Belinda Bass, director of Parks and Recreation for the City of Alamogordo. Bass says the lake had been an indirect victim of the Little Bear Fire in 2012. “Because of that burn, there was no vegetation left there so not long after…there were big rain events and it just washed all of the silt and gravel down into the canyon into the lake,” Bass said.
Due to clean-up efforts, the lake hasn’t been open to the public. “It filled up with water for the first time last year after many years and we just dropped trout in it the day before yesterday!” Bass said.
However, Friday morning the U.S. Forest Service expanded the area of closure to include the lake. “I authorized the US Forest Service to dip water from our lake to use in our firefighting purposes,” Holden said.
But for everyone else hoping to get on the water this weekend, officials are urging: “Nobody come down. The fire service, they don’t need to be fighting traffic and fire at the same time. We want to make sure that that road is closed so that if that fire does all of a sudden jump up and really run, we don’t want to lose people over a couple of trout,” Bass said.
Holden says tourism is a big part of their economy and they hope the lake will open up again soon.
The Lincoln National Forest has issued a closure for the area to run through much of August but could be rescinded if conditions improve. Officials urge the public to check fire conditions before heading out. For more information, the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish says you can check here for updates.
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