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Welcome to the online exhibit of Resilience and Regrowth: Twenty Years After Cerro Grande. Explore photographs and artifacts, reflect on our journey of resilience, and share your stories of the Cerro Grande Fire.
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“I think [volunteering] really helped to bring the community together. They laughed, they cried, and they worked together. It helped people heal a little bit.” How have you overcome obstacles in your life?  Craig Martin used this McLeod tool with many of the volunteer work parties he helped to organize in the months after the fire. Gift of Craig Martin. LAHS Archives, 2000.035. Los Alamos Historical Society. Volunteers pitched in as soon as they could. During the evacuation, 134 ham radio operators kept emergency communication channels open. Led by the Kramer family, volunteers at the Elks Lodge cooked more than 50,000 hot meals for firefighters and emergency personnel. Sue Dummer at the De Colores restaurant made 120 gallons of chile sauce every day to keep New Mexican first responders fed and happy. As people returned to town, they wanted to help the forest regrow. The denuded hillsides threatened to allow dangerous floods in the approaching summer rains. The community organized work parties to prevent flooding, to make trails safe for use, and to plant seeds and seedlings. The volunteer response was overwhelming. More than 400 people helped on the first Saturday, and by the end of the year, some 2,000 volunteers filled 60,600 sandbags, worked on 19.2 miles of trail, and raked, seeded, and mulched more than 490 acres of land. Comments are closed.
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Header photo by Vint Miller, courtesy Los Alamos County.
Were you here for the Cerro Grande Fire? Click here to share your story with us and to read stories of resilience from friends and neighbors.
Join us in the Guest Cottage to see Resilience and Regrowth in person. The museum exhibit has the space to share even more photographs, artifacts, and personal stories.
Thank You!
Hero Sponsors
Thank you for your donations that made this exhibit possible!
Melissa Arias
Nancy and John Bartlit Stephen A. Becker Don Cavness Rose Chocolatier Rebecca Collinsworth Brent and Robyn Collom Beverly Cooper Hedy Dunn Terry Foxx John S. Hendricks Hans and Ryn Hermann Linda and Bob Hill Wendy Hoffman Mary Pat Kraemer Lemonade Living Judy Magelssen Craig Martin Elizabeth Martineau McDaniel Family Gordon McDonough Robert C. Moore Ben and Ruth Neal Joyce Nickols Todd Nickols Deborah and Rick Reiss John and Kit Ruminer Santa Fe New Mexican Sharon Snyder Georgia and Gerry Strickfaden Michelle Stump Cherie and Andy Trottier Todd Urbatsch Roger Waterman and Emily McGay In creating this online exhibit, the Los Alamos Historical Society is supported by a generous grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the New Mexico Humanities Council.
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