P is For Progress

The Marshall Fire burned through my area nearly 4 months ago. Out walking today, there was noticeable progress on some fronts. Some lots now are cleared of all debris, burned trees are removed. It’s a big project, clearing all of this from more than a thousand locations, and recently the county published a listing of sites and their scheduled time for clearance. Even the clearing debris phase will take a while, and things are changing. These are a few photos of roughly the same area, taken from different angle and 3 months apart. The first is just after the fire, the second yesterday. Most of the debris is cleared. It looks and feels quite different.

As I have mentioned previously, I’m gradually venturing into different burned areas, endeavoring to keep my nervous system from being overwhelmed. BA and I walked today on Davidson Mesa, which has recently reopened. Today was the first day I had walked a western stretch since the fire. I’d been to the overlook a few times, but this was the first time continuing south from there. It’s amazing how different it feels. Even as this was largely grassland, with a few bushes and many yucca, it feels much more barren since the fire passed through. There are many scorched yucca and prickly pear cactuses, it will be interesting to see if and how they recover. The grass is growing, greening up, and there were many prairie dogs, a few rabbits and some birds, including a meadowlark sitting atop the burned skeleton of a bush, singing away.

This walk also took us along an area where some homes had been burned. A strange pattern, one or two gone, one standing, and so on. Hard to understand, and clearly a house burned or unharmed really seemed to be luck of the draw. This photo is of a garden bed, remaining next to an intact in ground trampoline. The house is gone, the garden timbers started to burn, and here is the garlic planted last fall coming up right on schedule.

It is interesting watching the progress. I find it helpful to notice the change and progress even as there are days when things feel and seem stagnant. Another new change today was this sign, posted by the city, marking the stages of recovery. Its a non-linear scale, some phases will take much longer than others, and its good to know that we have moved past the beginning.

There is progress. One step at a time. We will get there!

Written for the April A to Z Blogging Challenge