Forest Service conducts media tour of Waldo Canyon
On Wednesday, the day before the fourth anniversary of the Waldo Canyon fire, the U.S. Forest Service reviewed the recovery of the area’s burn scar.
The USFS took local local media members on a tour of the burn scar, highlighting examples of recovery progress while pointing out areas for improvement.
Oscar Martinez, a USFS ranger, said the burn scar’s recovery is being managed so that future fires don’t burn as intensely as the 2012 disaster that destroyed nearly 350 homes.
“The intent is still to stabilize and shape what the future looks like to re-establish the forest,” he said. “But it’s a different kind of intensity and treatment.”
Martinez said early efforts after the fire focused on stabilizing burned soil that was vulnerable to erosion and flooding.
“A third of the forest in the burn scar is still closed to the public because that’s where the greatest damage is,” he said. “Steep slopes, dead trees and fragile soil make it difficult for us to get into that area and continue recovery efforts.”
In a special report last month, local experts told KRDO NewsChannel 13 that the regrowth rate of vegetation on the burn scar is 50 percent but the overall level of forest recovery is 10 percent.
Martinez said the USFS is now concentrating on making other areas of the burn scar as healthy as possible for new trees and wildlife, as well as reducing the risk of flooding and erosion.
“We’ve chipped a lot of the dead trees,” he said. “They provide cover for 50,000 Ponderosa pines we planted on 200 acres near Rampart Reservoir. But we’ll still be dealing with falling trees for a while yet.”
Martinez said the USFS chose the Rampart area for replanting because it’s popular for recreation, and to reduce danger by knocking down as many dead, burned trees as possible.
The USFS also is conducting a pilot program to plant hundreds of willows along the headwaters of Camp Creek to further decrease the risk of erosion and flooding.
In the four years since the fire, the burn scar has become somewhat of a tourist attraction. A couple from Oklahoma visited the area Tuesday, and a couple who recently moved from Texas saw the burn scar for the first time.
Sharon Engle, who has lived near Waldo Canyon for more than 40 years, said she doesn’t mind the increased traffic and curiosity.
“It’s a different type of forest now,” she said. “There’s a certain beauty in that.”
The USFS said a complete recovery on the burn scar likely will take several decades.
An estimated $55 million in local, state and federal money has been spent since the fire on recovery-related issues.
