This past Saturday, October 25, the ERC hosted a Fire Ecology Walk out Greenhorn Gulch.

Thirteen participants enjoyed a beautiful fall morning while exploring the Beaver Creek Fire burn after one year of recovery.  Throughout the two-hour program, participants learned more about what makes up a healthy forest, the effects (positive and negative) wildfires have on our local ecosystem, current forest management practices, as well as current research that’s being conducted on the effects of fire on forest systems.

This program was led by Josh Switzer, a Senior Firefighter for Sawtooth Helitack, with 10 years of experience working on wildfires in the West.  His passion for forest and fire ecology was truly contagious and participants were treated to his unique perspective on fire ecology as Josh also has a Master’s Degree in Forest Science from the University of British Columbia.

We had a wonderful time walking through the Greenhorn Gulch trails, directly experiencing the damage and regrowth of the forest.  We hope that before the snow flies, you too will check out the burn at Greenhorn Gulch – it’s truly beautiful out there right now!