The recent Marshall fire in Boulder and neighboring communities was the most destructive fire in Colorado history, moving quickly and relentlessly, destroying over 1000 homes, leaving an apocalyptic level of destruction in its wake.
A confluence of weather events including high winds and lack of recent precipitation combined to fan the flames of this inferno literally and figuratively. The fire was quickly and predictably blamed on climate change, although a changing climate, including moisture and drought, are nothing new to Colorado and have been occurring long before gas guzzling SUVs and air conditioners were a staple of American life.
In fact, Colorado was once under water. Not recently but during both the Paleozoic and Cretaceous periods of the Earth’s history. Colorado was once home to rainforests and 70-foot-long sea creatures called plesiosaurs. Climate change is a staple of Earth and will continue to occur.
Are wildfires in Boulder a new phenomenon or an unfortunate but natural part of history? The Boulder County website provides an answer.
Wildfires have always been a natural occurrence in Boulder County, but various land management practices, including fire suppression, over the last 100 years have resulted in forests with vegetation densities 10 to 100 times their natural state. Combine this with factors such as steep terrain, drought, high summertime temperatures, seasonal high winds, and an increased human presence in the form of development and recreational use, and the result is an environment prone to extreme wildfire behavior.
Note that wildfires are not new, only their severity. While the climate has changed, many times in fact, what is new is vegetation and population density. And of course, ever changing weather. Environmental activism, leading to a reluctance to cut and remove trees, and more homes placed closer together, creates a set up not only for fires but for far more damage.
When Boulder was sparsely or non-populated years and centuries ago, fires still occurred but no one was around to record them. They burnt themselves out and the fires actually helped manage forests by giving them a necessary haircut of sorts.
Think of Florida as an example. Once nothing but swamp land, ferocious hurricanes hit the Florida peninsula, bringing needed rain to the interior of the state, rejuvenating the swamps and wildlife. Destruction was not an issue until the Florida coast was populated with homes, condos, and high-rise apartments, now in the path of destructive hurricanes.
Similarly, mountain homes in the middle of Western forests, surrounded by dead trees and debris, are sitting within a tinder box ready to ignite, independent of whatever the climate happens to be doing at the time.
This is not to dismiss or mitigate the damage of the recent Boulder wildfires, but to add another perspective. Simply blaming the ever-changing climate, something which we cannot control anyway, ignores measures that we can take, including forest management and housing density.