Just a week ago, Colorado ranchers Matt and Christy Belton drove to the top of a dirt road on the property they manage outside of Steamboat Springs in Routt County. They were trying to get a better look at the Middle Fork fire, which has burned about 20,000 acres since igniting in early September.
It’s windy and the smoke billows into the sky from a ridge of trees. For a moment, flames are visible.
“It’s climbing the ridge real fast, and those fires go uphill better than they climb down,” Matt said. “If we stand here much longer, we’re going to watch it top out.”
In a year of relentless heat and record drought — and destructive wildfires — Colorado’s farmers and ranchers find themselves trying to adapt to life on the front lines of climate change.
“We haven’t had rain,” said Matt Belton, a rancher outside of Steamboat Springs in Routt County. “The wind has been terrible. So the grass, there's nothing really. It's like straw. So we decided to get rid of our calves early.”
The Western Slope has felt the worst conditions, where large swaths of land are now in an exceptional drought — the most severe category of the U.S. Drought Monitor. This is now the driest April through September on record for the area, according to the state climatologist.
The Middle Fork fire is burning in the national forest where the Beltons would usually have cattle grazing, but there was time to get their cows and their calves off the land. Matt is optimistic about this fire — it might take a few years, but he hopes the pasture will benefit from the flames. But he’s worried about what might happen in the future.
Michael Elizabeth Sakas/CPR News
“We talk about it all of the time, with our cattle up there on the allotment because there’s a lot of fuel there and there’s more to come,” he said. “If a fire were to break out, we’d go lay fence down so cattle don’t butt up to a fence if they’re trying to get out. But if it’s something like that, that’s moving so fast, you don’t go in. Our safety is first.”
The Beltons have managed this land for 20 years, and Matt is a fourth-generation Routt County rancher. He said things are different now.
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October 16, 2020 at 06:10PM
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Record Drought Puts Colorado Farmers And Ranchers On The Front Line Of Climate Change - Colorado Public Radio
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