Rebuilding after devastation: the Hayman fire

Posted: 06.08.2012 at 6:16 PM

Volunteers create holes in the ground so others can place saplings to help restore tree growth. / Fox21/Aly Myles

HAYMAN BURN AREA, COLO. -- To date, the Hayman fire is the largest and most destructive in Colorado's history. 10 years ago Friday, that fire was sparked by a forest service worker burning a letter.

But 10 years later, volunteers weren't focusing on the how the fire started, but how to end the destruction.

"It's going to be like 900 years for this forest to regenerate itself," Jeff Tienken, Natural Resource Technician with the Coalition for the Upper South Platte said. "We're just giving nature a little jumpstart. Nature can't stop the flow of sediment by herself... So you know, whatever we can do to help out. We do what we can."

Tienken was one of dozens of workers spending the anniversary at the Trail Creek watershed on June 8. Rob Katz, CEO of Vail Resorts, organized many of his employees to spend the day volunteering their time, planting trees and seeding the acreage.

"It's our mission to help restore and protect our national forest," Katz said, stressing the importance of the Hayman burn area's water.

"The water that runs through the Hayman burn area represents 75 percent of the water supply that goes around our state. 80 percent of that goes to the Front Range," Katz said.

Richard Del Margo, a Hayman landowner, showed up with his wife to listen to the key speakers. Del Margo was in Colorado Springs when the fire began and was unable to visit his land for multiple weeks.

"It was a devastation," Del Margo said. "We have 40 acres and probably 3,000 to 4,000 trees were burnt, black stumps, ugly branches. The Earth was full of burnt soil. It was a devastation. That's what we found, so for 10 years, we've been working to restore the land."

He said the couple plants 400 trees and 100 shrubs per year with the coalition's help.

"Things are looking better," Del Margo said. "It's a slow, patient process."

The fire, which destroyed 137,760 acres, also destroyed 133 homes and 600 structures back in 2002. Vail Resorts' volunteer Katy Floyd said she was surprised by how vast the devastation still is.

"Driving down here, I was amazed at the decimation, how widespread the fire was and it's so mind-boggling until you see it," Floyd said. "We all see the smoke, we all hear the news reports, but until you're here, you see, I mean, just like the soil that's running off, let alone the trees sticking up that've been burned and everything."

Partners with the restoration project still meet regularly to work on the project. They said they're always in need of volunteers. To volunteer in the Hayman Burn Area, contact the U.S. Forest Service or National Forest Foundation.