The Cameron Peak Fire, which tore through more than 200,000 acres of Colorado in 2020, holds the grim distinction of being the largest recorded wildfire in the state's history. A Colorado State University research team has been working in the years since to understand how those scorched landscapes can be coaxed back into functioning forests.
Early findings from the CSU effort show that young seedlings face steeper challenges at lower elevations than they do higher up the mountain. The research centers on identifying which tree species are managing to survive in the fire's aftermath — and which are not — so scientists can better answer what one team member called the essential question: "what seedlings should we be planting in these post-fire environments, and how are they living, how are they dying, things like that."
Alongside that species-level inquiry, the team has been evaluating whether particular planting interventions improve outcomes, including a trial in which some seedlings received nitrogen supplements and hydrogel during early establishment. Results from that trial are not yet confirmed; the researchers said they are still determining "if those types of treatments actually do benefit planted seedlings."
The practical goal of the work is to give land managers a clearer framework for replanting decisions — one that, as a researcher on the team put it, finds "the right balance of reforesting in areas that need attention" without interfering where natural regeneration is already progressing well.
Water supply ranks as one of the most pressing reasons to pursue reforestation, with a team member noting that "forests are really important for our water for sure," in addition to the deep cultural attachment Coloradans hold toward their forested landscapes.
The researchers frame the project within a broader tradition of Colorado land stewardship, noting that fire has always shaped the state's forests: "Every forest in Colorado is a post-fire forest. Just how long it's been since that fire is a part of its history," one said.
The CSU team has not yet published conclusions on whether the nitrogen and hydrogel planting treatments produce measurable gains in seedling survival, and those results remain the key finding to watch as the study continues.