Where There Is Smoke.....

The air has been hazy here for about two weeks because of the wildfires burning in various areas around the beautiful state of Colorado.  A small fire is only about 20 miles from where I live.  The biggest and by far the worst fire is burning in the West Fork complex.  Last I checked it had burned over 90,000 acres.  It is in the running for worst fire in Colorado's recorded history.  Most of the area that is burning is an area that was full of beetle killed spruce trees. 

It seems to me that Smokey the Bear was wrong.  He should have said that not even you can prevent forest fires.  Forest fires are a part of the natural world and are by their very nature beyond our control.  Many forest fires are sparked by lightning in remote areas.  If the area is as dry as a tinderbox and full of matchsticks then it is only a matter of time until the area burns.  It is also very important for parts of the forest to burn.  We have instituted a program of fire suppresion in areas like this for over 50 years.  Had we allowed natural fires to burn themselves out on a regular basis we wouldn't have the buildup of material that can support fires like the ones burning now.  These giant fires are merely a symptom of how we mismanage our forests.

It is necessary for a forest to burn from time to time.  When it burns in small pockets it helps to increase the diversity of habitats which in turn increases the number of species it can support - a win win for everyone involved.  However, when an area this large burns it takes much longer to recover.  While the land is recovering from a large burn it supports far fewer species.  Erosion is more likely to take place in the forms of land slides, avalanches and flash floods in this area because there isn't much plant life to help stabilize the soil.

What needs to happen is a paradigm shift in how we view our relationship with the natural world.  We have to stop thinking that we are somehow seperate from it and we have to stop trying to control it for our own sake.  The natural world took millions of years to become what it is today, and it is also in a constant state of change.  Once we realize this collectively we will learn how to better coexist with this world that we are a part of.

In the meantime we will just have to live with the consequences of our actions.  In the case of wildfire one of the consequences is smoke.  Some days the air was so hazy that you couldn't even see the mountains south of town.  It does however make for some very pretty sunrises and sunsets.  I guess every cloud has a silver lining.

The dayglow orange sun rising through the haze early in the morning.

A beautifully colorful sunset made by a mixture of clouds, smoke, and blowing dust.