Taos County and the fire districts
Open burning on private and county land — Ranchos de Taos, El Prado, Cañon, Arroyo Seco, the mesa — and inside town limits, where the Taos Fire District has a say as well.
Ask first — a permit, and possibly a ban
Most open burning here needs a permit, and a burn ban can be sitting on top of it without appearing on any website.
Taos County Ordinance 2023-4 is the standing rule: burning grass, brush, slash or scrap wood needs a permit from both the county fire chief and the district fire chief where the burn is, applied for at least 48 hours ahead and answered within two business days. Separately, the county, a district fire chief or the County Commission can ban open burning outright when fire danger is high — and that call is not published on the county's website. One phone call settles both halves, which is why this card does not guess at it.
Not allowed
- Burning grass, brush, slash piles or scrap wood without a permit
- Any open burning at all while a district or county burn ban is in force
- Burning trash, plastic or rubber — never, permit or no permit
Still allowed
- A permitted burn, on a day that meets every condition below
- Small recreational and ceremonial fires, which the permit rules size-limit rather than forbid
This is the layer that catches people out, because it moves independently of the others. In 2026 Taos Fire and Rescue banned all open burning from 30 March and stopped issuing permits until further notice, while the national forest reopened in July. A forest with no restrictions tells you nothing about your own back yard.