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Ponderosa, New Mexico

20 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1890 and the latest in 1983. It stands in the Santo Domingo-San Felipe census division. It lies in ZIP code area 87044. The Survey maps it on the Ponderosa quadrangle. 379 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 6,010 feet above sea level.

Ponderosa within Sandoval County

Population over time

3 figures

Ponderosa fell from 383 to 379 between 2000 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
2000383
2010387+4 (+1%)
2020379-8 (-2%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

11 surveys from 20 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Fires near this place

122 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 122 fires within 5 miles of Ponderosa between 1992 and 2020, burning about 148 acres in total. 32 started naturally. 6 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Debris and open burning40
Natural32
Recreation and ceremony27
Missing data/not specified/undetermined11
Arson/incendiarism6
Equipment and vehicle use2
Misuse of fire by a minor1
Fireworks1
Smoking1
Power generation/transmission/distribution1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
8 September 1994Natural1.0 acresSanta Fe National Forestnot named
7 September 1997Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreSanta Fe National ForestWATER
5 September 2005Arson/incendiarismunder an acreSanta Fe National ForestPALIZA
5 September 1995Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreSanta Fe National ForestUNIT3
4 September 2017Natural12 acresSanta Fe National ForestBORREGO
3 September 2007Naturalunder an acreSanta Fe National ForestB-DAY
1 September 2000Arson/incendiarismunder an acreSouthern Pueblos AgencyBASEBALL
7 August 1999Naturalunder an acreSanta Fe National ForestCAMILLE

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Sandoval County

Mines and quarries near this place

7 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 7 workings within 5 miles of Ponderosa: 4 unknowns, 3 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Pumice, Geothermal. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Indian SpringsGeothermalUnknown
Pit Number 57-53-SSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Pit Number 59-51-SSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Strip MinePumiceUnknown
Strip MinesPumiceUnknown
Strip MinesPumiceUnknown
Walsh PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Sandoval County

Storms near this place

8 since 2002

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Ponderosa in 8 storm reports between 2002 and 2018: 3 hail, 3 flash flood, 1 thunderstorm wind, 1 funnel cloud. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
July 2018HailPonderosa$500,000Hail up to the size of golf balls slammed the area around Jemez Springs and Jemez Pueblo. Flash flooding closed SR-4. Significant damage occurred to vehicles, windows, and crops. Damage amounts are estimated for dozens of vehicles.
September 2002HailPonderosa$30,000no account filed
July 2014Flash FloodPonderosa$5,000Emergency manager indicated there was flooding in the area around Paliza however it was difficult to determine the extent of any additional damage due to the previous flash flood damage incurred from the event on July 8, 2014. Damage value is estimated for road repairs.
September 2002Thunderstorm WindPonderosa$5,000no account filed
August 2008Flash FloodPonderosa$1,000no account filed
July 2016HailPonderosa-Dime to nickel size hail near Ponderosa.
July 2014Flash FloodPonderosa-Several drainages flooded within the Paliza area of the Jemez Mountains. Water flooded Forest Road 266 before Forest Road 10 in two places. A fire engine working a wildfire in the area was trapped due to the above mentioned flooded roads, personnel had to wait out the storm.
September 2002Funnel CloudPonderosa-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Sandoval County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Cañon3.6 miles20
Jemez Pueblo4.4 miles21
Gilman6.2 miles18
Jemez Springs7.6 miles24
Deer Creek Landing8.1 miles18
San Ysidro8.6 miles17
Zia Pueblo10.9 miles21
Sierra de los Pinos11.2 miles25

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on PonderosaAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2099519The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 918293. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.