El Paso County fire danger among region's worst

El Paso County ranks among the top 10 counties in the eight-state Rocky Mountain West at high risk of a disastrous fire, according to a report released Monday.

The Colorado College 2007 State of the Rockies Report Card says drought, diseased trees and the number of homes near wildland areas place El Paso County at higher risk for a costly fire than most other areas. At No. 10, it was the only county in Colorado to make the list. Most high-risk counties were in Arizona, with counties in New Mexico and Nevada also ranked. The region includes Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.

The report also shows that population is booming in the Rocky Mountain West’s major cities. Demand for the region’s natural gas is soaring.

In its fourth year, the report is compiled by CC students and faculty and is accompanied by a conference this week hosted by the school.

This year’s 105-page report also includes statistics on the political breakdown of Rocky Mountain states, the prevalence of broadband technology and other data that show how the region compares with the rest of the country. A few highlights:

- Twenty years of voting data show the Rocky Mountain West is Republican, but Colorado is the most evenly balanced of the eight states and has shown a slight shift toward Democrats in recent years. Denver and ski resorts have primarily driven the state’s slight Democratic leanings, but in the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections the greater Denver metropolitan area also trended in that direction.

- More than 87 percent of the region’s water usage is for irrigation, although that is changing as urban demand and historically low commodity prices are prompting farmers to sell their water. Farmers have turned to selling water as a bail-out, but the trend has in some

cases hurt rural economies. The report calls for more sustainability in water usage.

- Much of the region’s forests are at high risk of fire, in part from years of fire suppression, people moving into wildland areas, and disease infestation. The federal government owns about 58 percent of land in the region and about two-thirds of the forests and is mostly responsible for making the forests healthy.

- The region is home to an energyproduction boom, mostly natural gas. It produced more than a quarter of the U.S. supply of natural gas in 2005, and that’s a number that’s expected to substantially increase in the next two decades. The energy boom increases tax revenues and helps local economies, but the report warns that local governments and corporations should mitigate against the socioeconomic strains of such changes, coined “boomtown syndrome.”

- The region’s population grew by 9 percent from 2000 to 2005, nearly 4½ times the national growth rate, mostly in urban areas.