The flash of green caught my eye. Splotches of green among the black and the brown. Looking to both sides of the road, green dotted the ground hither and yon. Many of them growing right out of the base of the trees that had been burnt. It reminded me of the saying of the “phoenix rising from the ashes.” Grasses, and clumps of leaves here and there. The clumps are the ever resilient Aspen sprouting at the base of the charred brethren, already taking advantage of the freshly burned soil, and lack of competition to stake their claim. A mere two months later, and regrowth is already happening.
Right after the Cold Springs Fire, I talked with some friends of mine who lost their home in the fire. Not only was it devastating to lose their home, but to lose the many acres of Rocky Mountain Forest around their home to the fire, turning what was green to black. As I spoke with my friends, she asked me about how long it would take for the landscape to recover.
As a Park Ranger who worked in several national park out west, I had witnessed this theme of trauma and recovery on the land. In the initial after effects of fire, it feels like the environment has been forever changed, and the beauty of the pine, fir and aspen will never come again. But the forest has an amazing ability to heal itself.
As people who live here for what it is a blink of the eye in terms of nature’s time periods, we can forget what it would have been like had we never been here. In fact, forest fires are part of the natural cycle of forest health. Depending on the specific place, fire intervals can occur as often every 20-25 years. While it’s true that above 8000 feet, the intervals are often longer, other fires have occurred here in the not too distant past.
To understand what will happen to the forest in our neighborhood, we can look to our north and south to see the progression. In the Wild Basin area of Rocky Mountain National Park, the Ouzel Fire of 1978 burned several thousand acres of land. In a strange way, the fire provided for even better views for visitors hiking up to Bluebird and Ouzel Lakes as it opened up the dense conifer forest. Walking the ridge, expansive views of the mountains greet you, as a treasure trove of Aspens, small pines, and wildflowers accompany you on either side of the trail.
To our southeast, a more recent hike up Shadow Canyon in the Flatirons a couple of years ago took me through the fresh burn scar from the previous summer. As I hiked up the canyon nearing the burnt forest, I wondered what would greet me? My mouth dropped as a carpet of purple and yellow abounded all over the hillside. I had never seen such an abundant display of wildflowers. There were everywhere on the hillside as I climbed towards the saddle.
To my friends if you are reading, know that nature has already begun its healing process. The regrowth has begun in just a short time since the fire. And it’s a small sign of hope that helps me heal as well.
