Page 144 - Mapping the Nation: Taking Climate Action

By Ranking Wildfire Risks, National Park Service Protects Valuable Places For 95 years, the Fern Lake Backcountry Patrol Cabin inside Colorado's Rocky Mountain National Park had sheltered rangers, biologists, and search and rescue crews. Then two wildfires imperiled the park in late 2020, and one—the East Troublesome Fire—made it through the entrance, growing to more than 100,000 acres in one day. The cabin didn't stand a chance against the blaze. Neither did the Grand Lake entrance station, the historic Onahu Lodge, the Green Mountain cabins, or the Trails and Tack Barn. The damage could have been much worse, however, if not for the mitigation work years earlier to remove trees that had been killed by pine beetles and could have served as fuel. 143