By Gabby Sherwood
Just five years after the East Troublesome Fire swept through Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP), a major milestone in the Green Mountain Trail’s restoration was reached. Park trail crews, in collaboration with the Rocky Mountain Conservancy Conservation Corps, finished constructing 1.5 miles of a segment of the trail. Drier, less steep, and built for sustainability, this new trail ensures future generations will enjoy Green Mountain.
Shortly after the Cameron Peak Fire began in October 2020 – Colorado’s largest – the East Troublesome Fire became the second largest and burned 193,812 acres. Both fires scorched land inside of Rocky. In all, 22,669 acres burned on both sides of the Continental Divide, including Green Mountain on the park’s west side.
Over the last five years, the Green Mountain Trail has seen strong ecological recovery and restoration since the fire, in part thanks to the help of dedicated, meticulous work by Rocky’s trail crews and Rocky Mountain Conservancy Conservation Corps.
The Kawuneeche Crew, the Corps’ only crew that lives and works on the west side of the park, supported various stages in the rebuilding and restoration of the Green Mountain Trail. “We really enjoy working with them and have had great groups who were eager to help over the last three years,” said RMNP Trail Crew Lead Ren Bernas. “It’s exciting at the end of their season to see all the work they’ve done.”
“It’s especially meaningful that this year’s Kawuneeche crew are the people that saw the trail to its completion,” said Conservancy Field Coordinator Eli Bolick. “Each crew member had a chance to walk the trail in its entirety up to the junction, so there’s a great sense of satisfaction that comes with seeing the finished product.”
The park is now directing hikers and horses onto the new trail and has officially closed the top and bottom sections of the old trail.
After the fire, park staff evaluated trail conditions and found the most sustainable route for restoration was to relocate the trail out of the drainage. Park biologists, botanists, and archeologists ensured the new route would not impact sensitive plant life and created guidelines for trail crews to lay out the exact trail route.
“We took the trail up out of the drainage and onto the cross slopes of Green Mountain,” said Bernas. “Now the trail is in a much dryer area where we could build it at a sustainable grade.” Park trail crews kept the new route at or below an eight percent grade, which will prevent the trail from eroding and forming ruts in the future. Ruts are deep, worn trenches that form over time when water does not drain from a trail.
Recovery after a large ecological disturbance takes time. But between the conservation efforts and the natural regrowth, Bernas, who has been working on the trail for three summers now, has already seen encouraging results. “Every summer I’ve come back, Green Mountain is greener,” said Bernas. “There are so many baby lodgepole pines everywhere. Some of them are even two to three feet tall. I can imagine that in another 10 years, it’ll be a forest of shoulder to head-height lodgepole pine.”
