FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE [March 25, 2026] Red River Chamber of Commerce Launches Red River Ready, A New Community Resilience Program for Local Businesses. Pilot year launches summer 2026 with three workshop series addressing wildfire preparedness, low-snow winters, and forest closure planning - founding cohort now forming.

RED RIVER, N.M. – Today the Red River Chamber of Commerce announced the launch of Red River Ready, a new community resilience program designed to help local businesses prepare for the conditions that define the tumult of modern life in northern New Mexico's mountain communities - wildfire risk, potential forest closures, and low-snow winters.

Red River Ready launches its pilot year in 2026 with three workshop series. The first two - Beyond the Powder: Your Playbook for Thriving Regardless of the Forecast and Ahead of the Fire: Preparing Your Business for the Threat of Wildfire - begin this summer. A third series, the Forest Closure Playbook, launches fall 2026.

The program is the first of its kind for the Red River business community and is being built in close collaboration with local business owners as a pilot. Founding cohort participants are not just attending a workshop. Their experiences, feedback, and work will directly shape how the program runs in future years.

"Wildfire risk, forest closures, low-snow winters - these are just some of the conditions of doing business in Red River, and they are no longer surprises. Red River Ready exists because preparation should be normal. Not a crisis response. Not a reaction to disaster. Just consistent, practical work done together, before we need it." - Naoma STaley, CEO, Red River Chamber of Commerce

The program takes seriously the documented risks facing Red River and communities like it. Research from the U.S. Forest Service has found that nationally, only about 25% of buildings destroyed by wildfire are rebuilt within five years - and in small, rural, tourism-dependent communities, rebuilding rates are often far lower. The Hermit's Peak/Calf Canyon Fire, which burned 341,471 acres just south of Red River in 2022, became the largest wildfire in New Mexico's recorded history and triggered nearly $4 billion in federal disaster relief. In wildfire-affected regions, employment growth drops by 1.3% in the year a fire occurs; in tourism-dependent communities, the economic impact can be far more acute.

Red River has also faced repeated low-snow winters and the ongoing reality of forest closures that directly affect visitor traffic and business revenue. Red River Ready addresses all three of these conditions through structured, practical, cohort-based workshop series.

About the 2026 Pilot Series

• Series 1 - Summer 2026: Beyond the Powder: Your Playbook for Thriving Regardless of the Forecast - Three 90-minute sessions beginning May 2026. Designed for Red River's low-snow winters. Participants develop guest communication strategies, alternative programming and itineraries, operational pivots, and a unified community approach. Founding cohort now forming.
• Series 2 - Summer 2026: Ahead of the Fire: Preparing Your Business for the Threat of Wildfire - Three 90-minute sessions beginning June 2026. Small cohort of up to 10 businesses. Hands-on property assessment, risk identification, and action planning. Topics include defensible space, structure hardening, Red Flag Day operations, and seasonal maintenance. Founding cohort now forming.
• Series 3 - Fall 2026: Forest Closure Playbook: Building Your Business Strategy for Every Level of Closure - Three 90-minute sessions launching fall 2026. Three working sessions plus a closing celebration. Participants build playbooks for light, moderate, and full forest-closure stages. The interest list is now open.

Each series is built around a workbook that participants fill in session by session. By the end of each series, that workbook becomes a personal playbook - built by each business, for their business, specific to their property, their guests, and their conditions.

At the close of the pilot year, the Chamber will publish a combined Red River Ready report documenting the tools, strategies, and outcomes produced by the founding cohort - a resource intended to serve the Red River business community, grant funders, and other mountain communities facing similar conditions.

How to Participate

Space in both summer 2026 series is intentionally limited to maintain a focused, working cohort. Red River businesses interested in participating in either summer series are encouraged to register now. Interest in the fall Forest Closure Playbook series is also being accepted. To register or learn more, contact Barb Cerveny, Executive Admin, Red River Chamber of Commerce: 57five-754-2three66, barb(at)@redriverchamber.org

Full program information and registration details are available at: redriverchamber.org/red-river-ready.

About the Red River Chamber of Commerce: The Red River Chamber of Commerce serves the business community of Red River, New Mexico - a mountain tourism destination in the Carson National Forest in the northern Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The Chamber supports local businesses through advocacy, programming, community events, and economic development initiatives. Red River Ready is the Chamber's first dedicated community resilience program.

# # #

Media Contact

Naoma STaley, CEO, Red River Chamber of Commerce

Full Press Release: 2026_Red_River_Ready-Press-Release.pdf

With a Steady Heart,

Naoma STaley

--

Chief Executive Officer

Red River Chamber of Commerce

ensuring our community thrives

212 W Main St

P.O. Box 870

Red River, NM 87558

575-754-2366

www.redriverchamber.org