I grew up in Paonia, Colorado. Delta County. My world was small, Paonia had 1,500 people, naturally I was curious about cities and majored in urban studies. I spent four years in Texas and found it a strange place. I missed mountains and public land.

Before that, I took a 6-week course in Field Ecology at the Teton Science School during Yellowstone’s big fire year of 1988. “Let it burn” policies had just been adopted but were later rescinded.

It was an opportunity missed.

The cool fire that used to sweep the lower flanks of the San Juans clearing out ladder fuels between widely spaced Ponderose trees, inured to fire, is something experts try to mimic with controlled burns, goats and brute force remediation.

Big picture, we’re in a bind with overstocked fuels in our forests and yes, too much development in wildlands.

As for writing, I think it takes curiosity to be a good journalist and a willingness to listen to experts and be diligent about facts. Research tirelessly and double check your sources before going to print.

Thanks Rick,

I don’t think the new reality of hotter dryer summers combined with poor snowpack situations like this year have sunk in. The La Plata County emergency management head person has a graveled turnaround that encircles her house. She slays away in summers to beat back trees and brush. If she’s doing that, then homeowners need to do the same. The lazy person who expects a personal slurry bomber is in for a rude surprise in a conflagration. Fire crews will roll up, mark an X for hopeless, and move onto a defensible property.

You’re the expert.

You don’t think that in an emergency that we wouldn’t have access to water in Nighthorse? I live on the Anamas river and watched the 416 fire start just before noon. I have seen first hand helicopters pull water from the river for the 416 fire as well as the Missionary Ridge fire. The real damage came from the mud flows across 550. I lived in SoCal for almost 50 years and in Durango for over 30 years. I have never experienced anything like the Santa Ana winds since moving to SW Colorado.

Dennis, Hydrants ran dry in Los Angeles because of the multi-front fires. If you think that fire can’t close in on the city in multiple locations is impossible, just look at the 416 Fire burn scars. Further, saying we have large bodies of water nearby is misleading. We don’t have access to Nighthorse even though we own a good deal of water there. We have drawn water supplies down in several dry years to critical levels. Lemon was drawn down during those years as well. Ask the city council how close we were to water restrictions. Until the 36-inch pipeline project is underway, and I am told cost projections have doubled in the last two years, then we are not water secure.