BOULDER COUNTY - Nine years ago, on July 9, 2016, two campers from Alabama failed to properly extinguish their illegal campfire during a countywide fire restriction. The unattended campfire reignited later and started the Cold Springs wildfire.

Over the next five days, the wildfire burned a total of 528 acres of land: 430 acres on privately owned land and 98 acres on US Forest Service land. Over a thousand homes were threatened by the fire and eventually eight were destroyed.

Because of its proximity to Nederland, the wildfire was immediately attacked with ground and aerial resources. Water-dropping helicopters used Barker Reservoir to refill so the turnaround time for drops was in minutes. Colorado National Guard troops were also dispatched to provide ground assistance.

On July 14, the fire was declared contained.

The Forest Service has performed multiple reforestation efforts since the fire, replanting with Ponderosa Pine, Limber Pine, and Douglas-Firs.

On August 10, 2025, about 20 people toured the burn site to see the results of the fire and the reforestation efforts.

The tour was organized under the auspices of the non-profit Colorado Public Lands (copubliclands.org). Josh Schlossberg from Eco-Integrity Alliance (eco-integrityalliance.org) was the lead organizer.

Additional speakers on the tour included Teagen Blakey and Alex Markevich from the Magnolia Forest Group (magnoliaforestgroup.org), Dave Hallock with Earthwork Conservation Planning, and Dr. Thomas Veblen, forest ecologist and physical geographer.

The tour started off of Ridge Road and took about two and a half hours. It used social trails to traverse public and private land. At each spot on the tour, one of the speakers would discuss the land and the consequences of the fire.

The speakers challenged conventional assumptions about landscape-scale forest mitigation, reforestation, and what is considered a “healthy forest.”

Multiple studies were mentioned going back to the 2003 Hayman Fire. An analysis of the 2010 Four Mile Canyon File that burned 6,200 acres and 168 homes was used to illustrate the importance of defensible space on private property.

Boulder County’s Wildfire Partners (wildfirepartners.org) also did an analysis on homes in the Cold Springs fire area and found that multiple homes survived the fire which had participated in the program and been certified.

The tour concluded back at the parking area with a final question-and-answer period that touched on what had been seen and the impacts of climate change on future forest policy.

Another tour of the Cold Springs burn area is scheduled for August 24, 2025. For more information about that tour or to make a reservation, email colorado@copubliclands.org.

The Wildfire Partners’ analysis of the Cold Springs fire is accessible at: assets-partners.bouldercounty.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2017/03/Cold-Springs-Fire-141-Sherwood-Rd-A-Case-Study.pdf.