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- Colorado, Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, Water Quality, Oil and Gas Development
Wildfires
May 8, 2013--Coal mine smoldering poses fire risk in SW Colo. (Denver Post)
At least seven coal fires are smoldering near the site of a wildfire that burned 10,000 acres in southwestern Colorado last year. The fires are burning under Menefee Mountain in coal mines used in the 1920s and 30s. The Cortez Journal reports they were started by last year's Weber Fire. Coal fires are not uncommon and can burn for decades underground without ever producing open flames.
May 2, 2013--Summer forecast: Wet in the East, hot & dry in the West (USA Today)
A summer weather forecast released this morning by AccuWeather finds that while much of the eastern half of the USA should see cooler and wetter conditions than last summer, the West will bear the brunt of this summer's drought and heat.
Published in
April 19, 2013--State tanker fleet OK with feds (Durango Herald)
The U.S. Forest Service supports a Colorado state Senate bill that would allow Colorado to buy its own firefighting air-tanker fleet, an agency spokeswoman said. State senators, worried about another bad wildfire season and a diminished federal air-tanker fleet, advanced a bill last week that would spend $25 million to create the Colorado Firefighting Air Corps.
April 8, 2013--Climate change tough on Colorado Plateau (Aspen Times)
Conservationists are lobbying the Bureau of Land Management to overhaul its policies in the Colorado Plateau after the agency's own study indicated big alterations are coming over the next 50 years because of climate change. The vast Colorado Plateau is home of the spectacular canyon country and soaring mountain ranges of western Colorado and much of Utah.
April 4, 2013--Feds project climate change will double wildfire risk in forests (Denver Post)
The hotter, drier climate will transform Rocky Mountain forests, unleashing wider wildfires and insect attacks, federal scientists warn in a report for Congress and the White
April 3, 2013--Wildfire causes water problems for NM village (Denver Post)
The village of Ruidoso is warning residents that the mountain community's reservoirs are nearly empty due to the drought and the effects of a devastating wildfire. The problem is last year's Little Bear Fire severely damaged the watershed that supplies runoff to the community's two reservoirs. The reservoirs have been unable to capture enough water as a result.
April 1, 2013--N.M. faces possible devastating fire season (Durango Herald)
New Mexico is facing a potentially devastating wildfire season this year after experiencing record-setting fires during the last two years. This season is shaping up to be one of the worst as a decade of drought drains moisture from forest fuels and average temperatures continue to rise, The Albuquerque Journal reported.
March 29, 2013--Agencies brace for summer blazes (Durango Herald)
The prospect of a dry, warm summer has officials doing as much as possible to minimize chances of wildfires. They remember too well last year when wildfires burned more than 39,000 acres in Southwest Colorado.
March 26, 2013--Forest Service braces for bad wildfire season amid cuts (USA Today)
Persistent drought and an infestation of tree-killing insects have left broad swaths of the USA vulnerable to unusually fierce wildfires for the second straight year just as the U.S. Forest Service is dealing with cuts in its fire-fighting budget.
March 21, 2013--Online mapping tool promises to help determine wildfire risk (Salida Mountain Mail)
The Colorado State Forest Service is offering an online mapping tool to help professional planners and landowners determine wildfire risk and how to reduce that risk. The Colorado Wildfire Risk Assessment Portal, or CO-WRAP, is a web-mapping tool that provides access to statewide wildfire risk assessment information.
