Ranchers reeling after Colorado’s largest wildfire on record

DENVER (AP) -- The largest wildfire in Colorado’s recorded history didn't destroy scores of homes like other mammoth fires of the past, but it did scorch large swaths of ranch land and wildlife habitat tied to many people’s livelihoods.

The Denver Post reports the Pine Gulch Fire left some ranches in western Colorado blackened and useless for grazing. The fire came in a year that has been anything but decent for ranchers and farmers statewide. Most of western Colorado is in extreme drought.

The land is also an important habitat for Colorado’s deer and elk herds, which are among the largest in North America.