After 16+ hours of driving, we have arrived to our first location, Pagosa Springs, Colorado! Over the last two days, our group has loaded the van bright and early to travel through tallgrass prairie, shortgrass prairie, urban landscapes and desert to make it to the mountains of Colorado. We have passed the time with playlists, car games and sightseeing from the car window.
Today’s first stop on the trip brought us to the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs. We ate a gourmet camp picnic (thanks, Dr. Baack!) following a quick hike into the park. After lunch, we discussed our first course topic: wildfires.
Wildfires have become a major point of controversy and devastation in the United States; severe fires in the West destroyed ecosystems and communities across California in 2018. On our drive through Colorado, we saw singed mountainsides and “toothpick” trees that were the product of wildfires nearly five years ago. Given the dry drought conditions in the West, wildfires can devastate an area very quickly, and make revitalization difficult.
Our discussion focused on the federal legislation surrounding wildfires, and the interest groups affected by this legislation. We also discussed the ethical implications of building homes in large forestland, and the challenges of fire fighting by the U.S Forest Service. As a group, we looked at the double edged sword of controlled fires, and the interesting role of the public in shaping the American culture around forest fires.
While we didn’t solve all of the worlds problems during our lunch stop, we were able to apply our forest fire discussion to the region we were driving through, and better understand the complications of U.S. and international wildfire policy in a time of increasing global temperatures.
Tomorrow we embark on a new adventure in Cortez, CO, where we will look at the Native American history of the American Southwest. We will continue our snowy mountain adventure with a hike, and then continue to head West. Stay tuned as we trek across the Southwest!
