I know the hurricanes are taking most of the attention right now, but have you all seen the fires in Montana/Idaho and the such? Montana seems to be nearly engulfed. Are any of our people up in that area?? Prayers for you guys also!
inciweb.nwcg.gov is the site we use out here to track our western fires.
Here in southern Colorado we awaken to dark, smoke filled skies each day. That smoke is coming to us all the way from Montana. Many of you are familiar with the history of the 1910 conflagration that swallowed whole towns near Lolo, Montana. The Great Burn is one book covering that fire season.
Check out the explosion occurring east of Portland on the Columbia River Gorge. The Eagle Creek fire has jumped the Columbia, the largest river in the west.
We've got a small (12 acres) creeper in the ponderosa pines a few miles from here. Boggy Draw just north of Dolores, Colorado. It is doing some good for the forest. We may have a new morel spot next spring.
disasterresponsemaps.arcgis.com is another useful and interesting site.
4Corners, the map esshup shows fires in SW Colorado, your location says SW Colorado. How far are you from those fires?? Are you guys in any danger where you are?
esshup, yes, your link is the correct address, is complete and opens. Thanks for that.
peachgrower, we presently are in no danger here. The small fire nearby is actually helping the forest by cleaning up litter on the ground. Our monsoonal rains in July and Augusts have moistened most of our fuels to the point where they do not burn explosively. Some years the monsoons fail; our fire danger skyrockets then.
Thanks all for your concerns. We have many friends spread all over the western states. Most are experiencing hazardous smoke conditions; some are evacuating.
The Big Blowup of 1910 is what got our forests started down the unhealthy path. You are now seeing what 100 years of fire suppression has done. Mature Pondo pine should have 20-40 mature stems per acre. Now we have areas up over 2000. Lodgepole was designed by Mother Nature to be total stand replacement every 100-300 years. Now we just let beetles kill it.