LOVELAND, Colo.—Colorado wildfires have taken a toll on the state economy, with mud and debris from burn areas clogging rivers used by rafters and beer brewers and turning roads to resort towns into roiling, black streams.
Problems in the Cache la Poudre River stemming from the 2012 High Park Fire knocked out a popular rafting spot when a blockage formed at Three Way rapids near Loveland. A mudslide Friday stranded motorists at highway marker 104 and blocked the river.
“It went across the street and pretty much destroyed that rapid,” Sam LaBarre, a rafting guide with A1 Wildwater Rafting, told the Loveland Reporter-Herald ( ) in a story on Monday.
So far, the debris has only affected a few tours.
“We did have to modify one of our trips that usually puts in a couple miles above the major mudslide at Steven’s Gulch,” said Bob Klein, manager of Wanderlust Tours. “Until they remove the branches, no one is able to run that rapid.”
Klein said the U.S. Forest Service is allowing the whitewater rafting company to launch from a site a mile below the mudslide area. Usually, companies need a permit to use launching sites.
On July 24, the Colorado Springs Office of Emergency Management and El Paso County Emergency Services Division will hold a preparedness meeting for residents and businesses along the waterways of Fountain Creek. The meeting is being held to prepare them for more flooding expected with summer monsoon rains.
On July 10, a thunderstorm sent rocks, mud, debris, cars and running water rushing down part of U.S. 24 in a canyon in Manitou Springs, leaving some vehicles covered or stuck in mud. The rockslide closed a four-mile stretch of U.S. 24, a major route leading to camping and resorts in the mountains.
The National Weather Service warned of more possible flooding this summer for areas scarred by the Waldo Canyon Fire last year and the Black Forest Fire this year, since soil and vegetation that normally would absorb rainfall has been burned away.
Insurers estimated that wildfires this year in Colorado Springs caused nearly $300 million in damage.
Last August, muddy water from the Poudre river forced New Belgium Brewing, the maker of Fat Tire beer, to monitor water it got from the city of Fort Collins to make sure residue from a deadly wildfire that blackened the northern Colorado River didn’t befoul the taste of its beer.
The brewery did not return a phone call on Tuesday seeking comment.
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Information from: Loveland Daily Reporter-Herald,
