On four-year anniversary of Waldo Canyon Fire, forest showing signs of recovery

(and currently, we are experiencing record heat. hoping there will be no repeat of waldo and black forest.

On four-year anniversary of Waldo Canyon Fire, forest showing signs of recovery


EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KKTV) It's hard to believe it's been four years since one of Colorado's two most destructive wildfires began burning near Colorado Springs.

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Those who lived through it know the story well: by the time the fire was fully contained on July 10, two people were dead, 346 homes destroyed and 18,247 acres were scorched. At its height, more than 32,000 were evacuated from their homes, with pre-evacuation lines extending all the way to the interstate in Colorado Springs.

On the four-year anniversary, new-looking homes are one of the only visible hints to outsiders of what the neighborhood of Mountain Shadows went through that terrible summer. Increasingly, the same is beginning to be true for the burn scars. Not to mislead: the land is not the same as it was. It wears the word "scar" well. But slowly, green is beginning to replace brown.

"I would say from a hydrologist standpoint, every year it gets a little better," said U.S. Forest Service hydrologist Leah Lessard. Lessard and Pikes Peak Ranger Oscar Martinez led a media tour Wednesday to show off the progress the burn area has made in the last 48 months.

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http://www.kktv.com/content/news/On-four-year-anniversary-of-Waldo-Canyon-Fire-forest-showing-signs-of-recovery-384105011.html