Rocky Mountain Forest Fires More Frequent Than Ever, Study Finds

The current rate of forest fires burning through the Rocky Mountains in the United States is the highest it’s been in the past 2,000 years, a recent study found.

Studying burn scars on tree rings and charcoal in lake sediments, researchers found that the region’s high-altitude forests burned at double the rate in the last two decades that they did in the past two millennia. The research suggested that warmer, drier weather caused by climate change was contributing to more frequent forest fires in the region. The Rockies are the largest mountain range in North America and stretch down the western side of the continent. In 2020, fires blazed through the high-elevation forests in the state of Colorado. Across the western United States, fires in the states of California, Washington and Oregon also burned through millions of hectares, cost billions of dollars and displaced many lives.