Facebook Twitter Email
FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2001

Two fires at the Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado last summer destroyed more than a third of the park's land and countless Puebloan artifacts.

Firefighters from the Navajo Nation are clearing away pinon-juniper stands to prevent fires from recurring. Archaeologists and workers from the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe are cataloging the more than 350 new sites that were exposed by the fire.

The two fires forced the park to close for nearly a month last summer and caused more than $800,000 in damage. The Bircher Fire burned nearly 24,000 acres and the Pony Fire burned 5,300.

Get the Story:
Mesa Verde Draws Lessons From Blazes (The Salt Lake Tribune 8/31)

Relevant Links:
Mesa Verde National Park - www.nps.gov/meve/

Related Stories:
Protection of ruins urgent (10/26)
Mesa Verde efforts criticized (08/30)
Fire crews to give up (8/11)
Fires bring tribe, park together (8/10)
Fire threatens sacred artifacts (8/8)
Fire threatens park again (8/7)
New fire sparks on reservation (8/4)
Mesa Verde fire nearly contained (7/28)
Indian firefighters skirt law (07/31)
Rain could threaten Mesa Verde (7/27)
Mesa Verde fire slows down (7/26)
Mesa Verde fire grows, nears ruins (7/25)
Fire threatens reservation, ruins (7/24)
Fire burns Pueblo land (7/24)