By Tawny Quast
When the Cameron Peak Fire raged across the Rocky Mountains in northern Colorado in August 2020 , the destruction caused by this catastrophic event reached far beyond the immediate damage to structures and the mountain landscape . More than four years after the last flames were extinguished , the ecosystem within the burn scar area is still hard at work getting back to its pre-fire conditions .
Immediately following the fire , recovery efforts centered around protecting life and property and improving water quality as debris and sediment littered the streams responsible for supplying water to many downstream communities . The fire burned through over 200,000 acres , destroying 42 primary residences and hundreds of other structures . Little was left of the forest ecosystem in the burned area . While the physical damage was obvious , the changes to this delicate ecosystem threatened water quality and increased the risk of flash floods , among other issues .
In the relatively short history of stream restoration , especially following disasters , efforts involved traditional restoration techniques focused on stream form rather than stream process . Form-based restoration involves engineers and river designers attempting to achieve a desirable stream planform , or what the river looks like from above . This work is typically done around infrastructure , is higher cost , and offers more of a “ one-anddone ” solution , said Chelsey Heiden , a civil engineer at Ayres who helped lead the post-fire mitigation efforts . While necessary in certain situations , form-based restoration does not tackle the underlying issues nor address the processes that need to be restored to maintain a healthy river system long-term .
Turning the focus to stream health and water quality
Once post-fire goals to protect life and property were complete , more effort could be put into protecting stream health and water quality . Because of the remote setting , limited infrastructure , and rugged access of the Cameron Peak Fire burn scar , post-fire restoration was most needed in remote locations across the watershed to make a long-term impact . And thanks to a relatively new approach called low-tech process-based restoration ( LTPBR ), Ayres engineers and its partners are doing just that .
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