How did the Marshall Fire impact the land?

On the evening of Dec. 30, 2021, the Boulder County sky was lit by the bright red flames contrasting the dark winter night. Across the towns of Louisville and Superior, right outside of Boulder, 1,084 homes, worth nearly $510 million, were burning to the ground. Winds gusting over 100 miles per hour not only fueled the Marshall Fire—of which the cause is still unknown—but made it essentially inextinguishable.

“I think that fire was shocking because of where it was located, out on the plains, but also because of the timing, given it was in the depths of winter,” said Mitch Tobin, director of the Water Desk at University of Colorado Boulder, a journalism initiative based at the Center for Environmental Journalism.

Those who worry most about wildfire affecting their homes are those living in the WUI or wildland-urban interface. Pronounced “woo-ey,” the WUI is an area where human developments are intermingling with undeveloped wildland or vegetation. 

“The people in Superior and Louisville probably don’t consider themselves in the WUI,” said Preston Cumming, a soils geography professor at CU Boulder. “Because normally, we’re thinking about forested areas when we talk about that.” 

While living on the prairie, and seemingly out of the WUI, residents may be deceived into thinking that they’re safe from wildfire. But dried-out grasslands—such as the location of the Marshall Fire—are actually prime locations for fires as dry grass is an excellent, fast-burning fuel source.

Drought conditions lasting through late 2021 into the winter months led to this perfect storm. And climate change forecasts predict Colorado to only get drier as the planet’s atmosphere gets warmer. 

But what immediate environmental impacts does the Marshall Fire have on the affected land? Here, we’ll look at the land implications of the Marshall Fire from the lenses of soil, water, and rebuilding efforts.

There are quite a few impacts fire can have on soil depending on the duration and intensity of the fire. These effects can be detrimental in nature, including loss of organic matter resulting in carbon emissions, reduced insulation, breakdown in soil structure and reduced moisture retention leading to increased water repellency – all of which can lead to an increased risk of erosion. Fire may also destroy root systems and seed banks. 

However, fire can be a beneficial element in soil and plant health, as well. It removes dead plant matter and activates certain types of seeds, which enables new plant growth.

When looking at the impact the Marshall Fire had on soil, Cumming explained that there were minimal effects due to how quickly the fire moved across the land. 

“It probably didn’t do much damage at all to the soil itself,” he said. “It probably only penetrated a centimeter or two, so it didn’t really affect much.” 

Cuming said the fire could have had a positive impact because it cleared out old, dead plant material. 

“I guarantee that come spring we will see [plants] popping right back up,” he said.

Another element to look at when assessing the Marshall Fire’s impact on the land is how it affected water and the way humans access water. 

Fire-related soil erosion may cause an increased risk of landslides with big, wet storms like those Colorado sees in the spring and early summer. Very intense fires can even impact groundwater or the water table. Luckily, the Marshall Fire was neither hot nor long enough to cause either effect in this case.

However, the Marshall Fire did affect the water infrastructure of the devastated homes and buildings. As Tobin explained, “There was damage to the water supply,

the pipes and all of the infrastructure in that area.” 

So, while the source of the water was unaffected, the systems that bring water into these buildings from the land have been severely compromised and will need to be replaced before rebuilding can happen.

Lee Stadele, Boulder County surveyor, explained that the land where houses and buildings used to sit will need to be cleared in order to rebuild. 

“Nothing can be done on the individual lots until the hazardous waste is cleaned, which could take up to one year or more,” Stadele said. “Once the hazardous waste is removed, the lots will need to be scraped and the foundations of the houses removed. Many of the land surveying monuments will be lost during this soil scraping process.”

The surveying costs related to the clean-up of this fire alone are stark, around $3 million. This number far exceeds Boulder County’s annual land surveying budget of 

$17,500. 

Stadele explained that insurance companies and, more likely, home owners are going to be the ones to make up the difference. “Boulder County did not have enough housing before the fire and that’s why it costs so much to live here,” he said.

So, while the land and soil of the areas affected by the Marshall Fire will be just fine, it is the stewards of that land, namely residents and business owners, that will need the most support going forward. Many have discovered, retrospectively, that they were under-insured. Despite a multitude of programs and committees organized to help them, many won’t have the capabilities to rebuild. 

How can this tragedy be avoided in the future? While this specific fire was likely unpreventable, there are ways to help prevent future fires in the WUI and beyond, like in the case of the Marshall Fire. 

We have all heard of standard climate change actions citizens can take, like reducing our use of electricity and plastic, voting for politicians that promote climate initiatives and making more environmentally-conscious food choices. But when speaking about land stewardship and fire mitigation, Indigenous fire management is an underutilized resource.

Indigenous fire practices have been used in North America for thousands of years.

Native Americans used fire for a variety of reasons, including land management for certain species of plants and animals, clearing areas for crops and travel, and hunting. Their practices helped increase production of crops that fed, clothed and healed them while promoting ecological diversity.

There are countless examples of how the land of the United States was shaped hundreds of years ago by the controlled burning practices of the Indigenous peoples. For example, oak and chestnut trees are dominant in many Eastern U.S. forests as a result of targeted burning by native peoples to achieve specific nut crops.

Importantly, Indigenous fire management also helped to avoid catastrophic wildfires that we now see today. It’s safe to say that the U.S. would not be experiencing these extreme fire seasons if Indigenous fire practices were allowed to continue over the past several centuries. Analysis studies of satellite imagery show that indigenous lands using fire management techniques have the lowest incidence of wildfires.

Through understanding how catastrophic wildfires like the Marshall Fire impact different aspects of the land, we can better understand just how deeply destructive they are. Through this fuller understanding, we can feel emboldened to take meaningful action to avoid them in the future.

If you are interested in providing support to the victims of the Marshall Fire, you can make a donation here.