The Rocky Mountains are one of the earth’s most remarkable landscapes, providing an abundance of biological resources to Colorado and other surrounding states. The Rocky Mountains in Colorado create headwaters that provide 4 regional watersheds, Colorado, Rio Grande, Arkansas, and Missouri (South Platte). These watersheds help supply water to nineteen Western states. In addition to water, the Rocky Mountains are a source of mineral deposits, oil shale, forests, and recreational attractions that all contribute to the integral relationship between nature and humanity. Some of the economic and demographic forces of humanity are influencing and shaping the environment of the Rocky Mountains as well as global climate which contributes to other …show more content…
Water is the source that ski resorts depend on to supply the terrain for winter recreation. However, when the snowpack does not meet the requirements to open, many ski resorts must resort to snowmaking. Snowmaking also relies on water and that requires owning water rights in order to do so. In Colorado, water is a separate property right that can be sold separately from the land. In 1879, Colorado established Water Commissioners to distribute water rights based upon the principle of “First in Time…First in Right,” meaning that those who put water to use first get their water first during a water shortage. 2 Historically, 86 percent of water delivery went towards agriculture. Snowmaking uses a large amount of water, but returns about 80 percent of its usage back to the ground making it a fairly sustainable practice. However, if the population increase continues and climate change continues to lessen rainfall and snowfall then Colorado will face an increasing demand for water with a decreasing supply. Water supplies have been augmented by selling, transferring, or leasing water rights. In the past, most of the water diversions have been done with the intention to divert large supplies of water to agricultural users for …show more content…
The responses from the U.S. Forest Service to wildfires through the majority of the twentieth century were counterproductive. 5 Furthermore, the northern Rocky Mountains region is the only area in the United States that has had significant increase in human-caused fires from 1940 to 2000. 6 To be effective, the fire policies of the United States Forest Service need to study past forest fires and recognize forest fire as a critical ecosystem process that should be studied at local levels and have planned and controlled fires which will reduce the likelihood of continued increase in human-caused fires. Forest types that are part of the Rocky Mountain ecosystem such as ponderosa pine and mixed conifer have been negatively impacted by fire exclusion, because when these forests are left untouched they acquire higher fuel loads and hazards as well as increased numbers of shade-tolerant species of plants that serve as easy tinder in a forest fire and accelerate the rate and spread of potential
The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire That Saved America is about Teddy Roosevelt’s attempt to save the beautiful scenery of the West. Roosevelt used his presidency as a springboard to campaign for his want of protection for our woodlands, while doing this he created the Forest Service from this battle. In this book, Timothy Egan explores the Northern Rockies to analyze the worst wildfire in United States history. This disaster is known as the “Big Burn,” the 1910 fire that quickly engulfed three million acres of land in Idaho, Montana and Washington, completely burned frontier towns and left a smoke cloud so thick that it hovered over multiple cities even after the flames had been extinguished. Egan begins this story about the Big Burn of 1910 with the story of how the United States Forest Service came into existence.
The ecological effects of wildfires on Yosemite are among some its greatest benefits. Trees like Bishop Pines and Sequoias have evolved in such a way that their seeds will only open when exposed to high temperatures. The fires also help to clear out dead leaves and weeds, thereby making sunlight accessible to new plants and increasing their chances to germinate (Marder). Wildfires are so essential in areas like Yosemite that over millions of years, plants have developed strategies to be successful in this type of environment. For instance, giant sequoias have developed a thick layer of fire-resistant bark. This bark is “the main explanation for tree survival in intense fires” (Gignoux, Colbert, and Menaut). Fire makes the soil fertile and redistributes the nutrients evenly so that the next generation of trees can cover more space. The fires have helped...
Fire plays a huge role in natural forests. The let it burn policy allows natural fires to burn unless, they threaten people, property, or endangered species. This policy allows the years and years of kindling that has fallen and piled up on the forest floor to burn up in smaller fires, instead of having huge devastating fire like the ones that burning for months in 1910 and 1988. When the west was first settled, forests were thinned by lumber companies that logged the trees and burned the logging debris, and by ranchers looking to increase pasture land. The last herder coming out of the mountains would set a fire to ensure good forage for the next year.
The United States Department of agriculture Forest Service investigation report on the thirty mile fire.
Policies regarding the handling of wildland fires continue to change and evolve as new information is learned each fire season. Attitudes have changed between complete wildland fire suppression to no suppression at all. We now seem to have reached a balance between the two schools of thought and fall somewhere in the middle.
... them with more abundant and more nutrition vegetation as well as cover and shelter. It seems that the benefit and need for fire in certain environments is very important. So this leaves people to ask the question, “Why don’t we increase the use of prescribed fire?”
Colorado is a beautiful and historical state; the wide open plains, the glorious tall mountains, the history of its people that have shaped Colorado into what it is today. There is a lot to explore and learn when it comes to the Centennial State. Because of its history, Colorado is considered to be the meeting ground amongst three sections in the American West; the Atlantic Coast and Mississippi Valley, North and South, and Massachusetts and Virginia. These sections have shaped and developed the settlement and region in their own special ways.
As people of the twenty-first century, we are all too familiar with the frequent occurrence of wildfires in our nation’s forests. Each year millions of acres of woodlands are destroyed in brutal scorches. It has been estimated that 190 million acres of rangelands in the United States are highly susceptible to catastrophic fires (www.doi.gov/initiatives/forest.html.). About a third of these high-risk forests are located in California (www.sfgate.com). These uncontrollable blazes not only consume our beautiful forests but also the wildlife, our homes and often the lives of those who fight the wildfires. The frequency of these devastating fires has been increasing over the years. In fact, in the years 2000 and 2002, it has been reported that the United States has faced its worst two years in fifty years for mass destruction fires (www.doi.gov/initiatives/forest.html.). The increased natural fuels buildup coupled with droughts have been a prevailing factor in contributing to our wildfires and unhealthy forests (www.blm.gov/nhp/news/releases/pages/2004/pr040303_forests.html). Due to the severity of these wildfires, several regulations and guidelines have been implemented to save our forests. In fact, the President himself has devised a plan in order to restore our forests and prevent further destruction of our woodlands.
It is so sad to see the horror of forest fires and how they corrupt our beautiful land. So much damage comes out of what started so small. At least 603 square miles of land were burned in the early stages of the Arizona fire only a couple of years ago (BBC 2). In a Colorado fire 2.3 million acres had been burned (BBC 3). That land could have been saved if the use of prescribed burns had been in the area.
Water has long been a controversy in countless places worldwide and Colorado is no exception. The water rights in Colorado involve different stages within the Prior Appropriation Law; the senior and junior water rights. Senior water rights are privileges that were the first to be issued on unappropriated streams in Colorado and are to be filled before the junior water right holders. Junior water rights are similar to senior water rights, but are filled after the senior water holders take their allotted amount (Wolfe Prior Appropriation Law). The water in Colorado is just that; Colorado’s water, owned by the people and restricted by the state. However, Colorado is required by law to send over 30 million acre – feet of water to seven western states (“Missouri River”). An acre – foot is “The quantity of water required to fill one acre with one foot of water and is equivalent to 43,560 cubic feet or 325,850 gallons” (“Missouri River”). The State enforces all water laws in Colorado even though they are not straightforward and are riddled with loopholes. These water laws came into effect “As early as 1879” (Hundley, Jr. 53). In the laws, there are even more constraints and idiosyncrasies including; owning ground water, owning surface water, senior rights and junior rights, and the use and reuse of rainwater or graywater. Water users in Colorado need to familiarize themselves with the laws and regulations involving water in order to receive the allotted water and the reasoning behind that number.
Texas, with its abundances of natural resources, is facing a new demon, one that doesn’t even seem possible, a shortage of water. Water, without it nothing can survive. Texas is the second largest state for landmass in the nation and ninth for water square miles. Within the borders of Texas are more than 100 lakes, 14 major rivers, and 23 aquifers, so why has water become such an important issue for the state? Politicians and conservationists all agree that without a new working water plan, the state could be facing one of the most damaging environmental disasters they have ever seen. The issues that shape the states positions are population growth, current drought conditions, and who actually owns the water.
Americans today tend to believe that the Colorado River drought has been a recent occurrence, although drought relief strategies have been implemented since early 1997. To summarize, in the book The Colorado River Basin Drought Planning and Organizations, Colorado is named as the original state to acquire a drought relief plan. For instance, various assume water levels are diminutive in the Colorado and blame is due to the previous ten years of drought throughout the United States. Although it is true that water levels are at a record low, initial plans in the early 1920’s to introduce manufactured structures into the water basin is the original reason Colorado’s water system began to be compromised. It follows, then the supplementary natural
For about five years California has experienced above average temperatures and a lack of rain. This lack of rain and snowfall has caused California to become increasingly dry, starting arguments over whose right to water is more important and who needs to be more mindful with their use of water. Farming in California truly began during the gold rush when water was redirected to land where food was grown for those looking for gold (Siegler, 2015). The farmers that have stayed on that land now have senior water rights (“Water wars”, 2015). Farmers that settled their land before 1914 are those with senior water rights (Terrell, 2015). Governor Jerry Brown has called for a cut in water use by one-quarter percent to people living
Fire at any level can be devastating, yet the effects that wildfires have on every worldwide country really has left its mark on the land. As written by world renowned wild fire spokesperson Smokey the Bear, “Every year, wildfires sweeps through parts of the United States setting wilderness and homes ablaze. On average these raging infernos destroy about four to five million acres of land a year. But in 2012, wildfire burned more than 9.3 million acres, an area about the size of Massachusetts and Connecticut combined” (U.S. Wildfires). Destroying homes, crops, towns and of course forests. Yet the effects of these fires can be seen from a negative perspective as well as some positive. Plus there are natural causes as well as manmade that makes these destructive fires erupt and become almost unstoppable in seconds.
The Forest fire is occurring very frequently nowadays, reasons for it are a heavy increase in global warming and an increase in temperature.