Forest affected by pine beetles, courtesy of Skye Eisenhauer.

On July 10, 2025, three wildfires were started in Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, west of Gunnison. The fires were caused by a lightning storm, which struck dry and dead plants, allowing the fires to burn. These fires will have both long-term and short-term effects on the environment and community, as well as some interesting causes.

While the fire was started by a lightning storm, there’s an underlying factor that affects forest fires all over the state of Colorado: the pine beetle. This invasive species is responsible for killing forests throughout the state by burrowing into trees to hatch larvae. According to Mrs. Evans, science teacher at Coronado, climate change has caused the population of pine beetles to continue to grow because it takes several days of extremely cold temperatures for the larvae to die. She explains, “Since we’re not getting as cold anymore, they’re taking off and they will kill a whole forest.” As a result, the large amount of dead trees creates more fuel for forest fires, causing them to be more widespread and intense.

With the likelihood of more dangerous forest fires comes greater fire restrictions. Despite the inconvenience of the restrictions, everyone needs to follow the guidelines to protect our environment and the community.