How wildfire restoration can protect Western water supplies

Thursday, August 3, 2023

Strontia Springs Reservoir, Denver Water

As wildfires grow larger and hotter across the West, water managers are dealing with the impact. The Denver Post reports that sediment pushed downstream from wildfire burn scars is increasingly clogging water utilities, settling in reservoirs and blocking intake valves.

The town of Silt, Colorado (population 3,500), spent $100,000 after wildfires in 2020 blocked filters on the town's water system. The town is considering building a $28 million water treatment plant, which would increase water costs for residents.

More than 20 years after the Buffalo Creek Fire in 1996 and the Hayman Fire in 2002, Denver Water is still dealing with sediment in Strontia Springs Reservoir, which handles 80 percent of Denver's water. The $27 million in mitigation that followed led to a "Forests to Faucets" partnership between Denver Water and the U.S. Forest Service to replant vegetation and place mulch over burned areas.

In 2020, the preventative work paid off as firefighters were able to quickly put out several fires in the Strontia Springs Reservoir Watershed.

                            Quick hits
                        

A tutu-wearing guide is leading the way as women fill the ranks of Colorado’s raft industry

Colorado Sun

                            Quote of the day
                        

Every day I would watch the mailbox in my office, and one day, a week after, I received an envelope and I asked my colleagues, ‘Did you put this here so I didn’t feel bad?’ I opened it, thought it would be a beautiful swallowtail [butterfly], and it was a bag of purple dust. But it didn’t matter, because it was so cool that somebody cared that much that they paid to send it in for science. Stuff like that is really moving.”

—USGS scientist Julie Dietze, E&E News

                            Picture This

                        

@katmainpp

Adoption in bears is rare, but this season, we have the privilege of seeing this phenomenon among our Brooks River bears. The two cubs pictured are adopted siblings.

Their mothers, bear 910 and bear 909 are sisters. The two sisters had cubs during different years, but they decided to raise their families together last year. This spring, the families returned together until bear 909 separated from her 2.5-year-old cub.

Not quite ready for independence, 909 Jr stayed with her aunt 910 and yearling cousin and eventually was adopted. The new family fishes, travels, and sleeps together, and it seems like the new siblings are getting along just fine. ❤️

Photo description: Two cubs, adopted siblings, share a tender moment and rest their heads on one another.

Photo credit: NPS Photo/F. Jimenez