The summer wildfire season is decidedly over in Southwest Colorado, though there is still potential for fall fires between when (if) the monsoons end and when (if) the snow flies.
Generally, we are having some great weather for slash burning this September. Long-term forecasts are predicting a wet winter (show me the snow and I’ll believe it). If we do get a wet winter, does that mean we don’t need to worry about wildfires next year?
Southwest Colorado has a fire season every year. It may be shorter, or the fires may not be as intense, as the living trees tend to have more moisture in them, making them harder to burn and more difficult for fires to spread as quickly after a wet winter.
However, wet winters also make for more fine fuels. Grasses and forbs can grow tall and become a continuous ground cover in wet years, where the ground seemed like mostly dirt during the previous dry summer. When the spring rain ends, many of these plants go dormant and dry out. A thick cover of fine fuels will be an important component of next year’s fire season if we do get a wet winter.
Moisture is a huge factor affecting the length and intensity of the fire seasons. Unfortunately, a wet year also makes for more complacency and carelessness regarding wildfire prevention and preparedness.
Wildfire is still our number one natural disaster, and one of the most predictable and straightforward natural disasters there is to prepare for. A wildfire will stop burning if it doesn’t have any available fuel, and this is what makes the risk that wildfire poses to our homes and communities easier to deal with than tornados, hurricanes, and earthquakes.
I’m not suggesting removing all of the trees. By putting more space between trees, we can change the structure of our forests to decrease the likelihood of losing the entire forest, and possibly homes, to a fire that can easily run through the canopy of the touching trees.
Proper forest management should also improve the forest health. By removing weak and diseased trees, more sunlight, water, and nutrients become available for the diverse and healthy trees and shrubs of the forest. By protecting the forest in this way, you also protect the habitat and the watershed that your property is a part of.
Consider the flooding happening in and around Boulder, a result of heavy rains, not helped by the burn scar of the Four Mile Canyon and High Park Fires. What would happen after rains if the forest burned on either side of Dolores, or in the watersheds of Lost Canyon, Jackson Gulch, Lakeview, or McElmo Canyon? You have already seen images or experienced firsthand the debris flows following the Weber Fire. Please do not give up on the opportunity to create a more healthy and resilient forest and to protect your home because of tidings of a white winter. Visit the Colorado State Forest Service or www.southwestcoloradofires.org for great information on wildfire mitigation.
Take advantage of the cooler temperatures to reduce your wildfire risk these next seven months, and feel free to contact me if you have any questions regarding wildfire preparation at your home or in your neighborhood at 564-4007.
Rebecca Samulski is wildfire prevention and education specialist for the Montezuma County Fire Chiefs Association and Montezuma Chapter coordinator for FireWise of Southwest Colorado. Contact her at www.southwestcoloradofires.org or by calling 564-4007.