Photos from High Park fire aftermath

[RosieTR]

I got a chance to do some trail restoration on one of the trails burned during the Hewlett Gulch and High Park fires earlier this summer so I thought I'd post a few pictures. Some background: the Hewlett Gulch fire preceded the High Park fire by a couple of weeks and was contained when the High Park fire broke out. However, the High Park fire was much larger and burned up to the burn area of the Hewlett Gulch fire so the areas basically merged and I didn't have a map with me to figure out which area was the result of which fire. Some of the burn was needed, and burned just the trunks of mature pines. Other areas were completely obliterated to black sticks. Fire suppression, natural cycles, climate change, and local species, terrain and wind/weather conditions at the time of the fire all contributed to the different burn patterns. I'm sure this is something that will be studied for years and possibly decades to come by various land management agencies. I thought it would be interesting for folks to see now since it's one of those things that the media focused on while it was happening but won't do much in the way of follow-up except possibly locally.

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You can start to see the extent of the burn and even a little of the high peaks of Rocky Mountain National Park in the center background.

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A property that was saved and miles of burned forest in the background.

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Some of the odd burn pattern, possibly due to wind.

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I'm carrying some tools for the job.

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Badly burned forest with the spared valley below.

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So hot it burned the lichen on the rock here.

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Some lucky homeowners whose properties were spared, especially the one on the left that has burn all around it.

[redfox]

Wow! These are powerful images. Thanks.

[Rogar]

Thanks for posting these. I have friends who were on the edge of the burn, but did not have damage. Erosion and flooding will probably be an issue for years and I would just guess it might be generations before this returns to a mature forest. I wonder if this will affect future building in forested areas. The scary thing about the Colorado fires this year is how close they came to the edges of high population density areas.

[Mrs-M]

Beautiful country, despite all damage. Thanks for sharing.

[RosieTR]

Thanks for posting these. I have friends who were on the edge of the burn, but did not have damage. Erosion and flooding will probably be an issue for years and I would just guess it might be generations before this returns to a mature forest. I wonder if this will affect future building in forested areas. The scary thing about the Colorado fires this year is how close they came to the edges of high population density areas.

Yeah, it seemed like many of the fires were right along the Front Range. I know one guy who was evacuated for weeks but didn't have damage: moved here from MA and went right up and bought in the mtns. I commented at the time how I wouldn't live up there and he thought I didn't know what I was talking about. My view: if you're not evacuated from fires, you have wild animals eating your garden and/or pets. Never mind the difficulties of a bad winter. No thanks. I go up to hike all the time but I don't need to have forest in my backyard.

As for whether there will be a lull in building up there, I would expect so for a few years. I suppose it depends on the weather. More bad fire seasons will mean less building in the near future but memory is short. People build back up after various floods and fires everywhere so I'm sure this is no exception. Some folks are traumatized enough to leave but others who didn't live through it will take their place. Some who live up there know the risks and accept it, which I understand. It's the clueless ones that worry me. I will say, the firefighters did an amazing job. To think those folks tromped through 100+F degree heat with gear on, through smoke and difficult terrain, digging trenches and doing whatever all else just to save people's homes that possibly shouldn't have had a house there to begin with is a testament to human spirit indeed.

[Gregg]

We moved out of the CO mountains a little while back, but keep close tabs on everything going on there. Honestly, I'm surprised Summit County hasn't exploded. For anyone not familiar that is a county in central CO that is a huge tourist destination (Breckenridge, Keystone, Copper Mountain, Dillon, etc.). There are tens of millions of dead lodgepole pine trees from that area extending north and east to the area Rosie is working in. The trees are killed by an infestation of mountain pine beatles and the current estimates are that the area with the heaviest infestation, aka most dead or dying trees, is about the size of Rhode Island. That is an incredible quantity of fuel if a fire gets going. A Summit County fire would make the national news because of the resorts. It's one million dollar home after another and more condos than you can count. A fire in the back country is just part of the life cycle of a healthy forest, but if that cycle happens to take out a few thousand vacation homes the reaction would be interesting.