While Colorado’s Front Range is experiencing abundant rainfall, the state’s Western Slope continues to bake and even burn. Numerous wildfires are blazing around the drought-plagued area. On Saturday, the Waters Canyon wildfire broke out on Ute Mountain Ute tribal land just south of the border with Mesa Verde National Park. The fire, which is east of Moccasin Mesa and southwest of Weber Mountain, has burned more than 150 acres and is not contained. The Elkhorn fire in northern La Plata County is reportedly at about 300 acres with 62 percent containment. According to a press release, Colorado Parks and Wildlife staff are supporting fire crews because multiple bears have visited the fire area. In one piece of good news, the South Rim Fire at Black Canyon of the Gunnison is mostly contained. But Gov. Jared Polis has declared a disaster emergency for the new 600-acre Elk Creek Fire near the town of Meeker in northwest Colorado. The Turner Gulch fire on the Utah-Colorado border is at about 22,000 acres and is about half contained. And in Arizona, the Dragon Bravo fire continues to rage on the Grand Canyon’s north rim. A press release said the vegetation there is drier than kiln-dried lumber. The fire, which is more than 123,000 acres in size, is only about 13 percent contained.
Gail Binkly is a career journalist who has worked for the Colorado Springs Gazette and Cortez Journal, and was the editor of the Four Corners Free Press, based in Cortez.