CSU Team Gets National Science Foundation Award To Study Cameron Peak Fire Burn Area
FORT COLLINS, Colo. (CBS4) - A team of scientists at Colorado State University has received nearly $50,000 to study streams and snowpack in the Cameron Peak Fire burn area. The award was given by the National Science Foundation.
Scientists say the wildfire burned nearly 20 percent of the Upper Poudre River Basin, as well as high elevation snowpack area. Those are both crucial areas for the water supply in northern Colorado.
As part of the study, scientists will go into the burn area and examine the impact on streams and sediment movement in waterways.
The Cameron Peak Fire has burned 208,913 acres and is currently 92% contained. It is the largest wildfire in Colorado history and the researchers say it is the "fifth largest in a high-elevation persistent snow zone in the Western United States since 1984."