Omayra Acevedo, Peak to Peak. Being a simple human, I can’t help but think about everything these wildfires are affecting. I think about the people, their homes, their lives and safety. I also can’t help but think about all the birds, squirrels, elk, ants and all the wildlife that are losing their lives and homes. My heart even breaks for the trees. I must have, easily, 12 files in my photography journal with roughly 500 photos dedicated specifically to trees. Take it from me, that is a lot of pictures to look though of trees, and I don’t mind one bit. 

Colorado has about fifty kinds of trees native to our colorful state. The most common, being the Blue Spruce, which is a member of the pine family. When mountain pine beetles go to war with our forests, pine trees are the ones to suffer. Hence, the beetle’s appropriately-given name. Other common trees are the Douglas-fir, Engelmann spruce, limber pine, lodgepole pine, narrowleaf cottonwood, quaking aspen, piñon pine, plains cottonwood, ponderosa pine, Rocky Mountain juniper, subalpine fir and white fir. That’s a lot of pine! No wonder those pesky little beetles love our woodlands. 

The pine beetle epidemic occurs from Canada all the way to Mexico. They can be found in elevations from sea level up to 11,000 feet. In recent years, Rocky Mountain National Park has seen the most evident attack from these insects. Sadly, the most severe epidemic occurred in Grand County; where one of our largest wildfires continues to burn. I was so excited and hopefully about our recent snowfall. Though it helped a bit, a part of me was utterly saddened and disappointed for two reasons. One, it wasn’t enough to put the fires completely out. Two, I don’t see anymore snow in the forecast for weeks. I know things can change, but when your heart is breaking, it takes a lot more strength to stay positive. 

A friend of mine recently told me that it is depressing for him, having grown up here, and now have to watch the woods and mountains he grew up with - grew to love, change forever. I believe he’s not alone in his sentiment. I’m well aware that wildfires are a natural occurrence - for lack of the correct phrase - living in a place like we live. Nevertheless, it doesn’t diminish the intense emotions of loss, fear, sorrow; and hope, because there’s always that tiny spec of hope that lives in us all. When life tests our character and puts us through our worst moments, that’s when our true hope colors emerge and remind us that we can get through anything.

(Originally published in the November 5, 2020, edition of The Mountain-Ear.)