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Mapping Plan for Colorado Figure 7 Unmapped Counties Moffat Weld Logan Unmapped DO _0.9 i:::J 1.8 02.7 C.I 3.6 _4.5 Sedgwick Phillips Morgan Yuma Adams Washington Kit Carson Mesa , Elbert Cheyenne Baca fl~I~~.~~~'I~~ 100 100 Miles . w*, Note: The above scores are weighted. Weighting of individual parameters is explained on pages 25 &26. 6.7 Wildfire Impacts 2002 was a devastating year in Colorado with regard to wildfires, as it was in other western states. Unfortunately, the impacts of wildfires are not over once the fires have been extinguished. In 1996, Jefferson County, Colorado learned that painful lesson with a deadly flood approximately two months after the Buffalo Creek fire was put out. Hydrophobic (water-repelling) soils left behind by intense fire, sticks and stumps instead of green forest, and sterilized growing conditions limiting revegetation success all conspire to make watershed hydrology change radically. The Buffalo Creek watershed experienced flood flows 5 to 30 times the published FEMA lOa-year flows from rains on the order of2 to 5 inches in a few hours. Buildings outside the lOa-year mapped floodplain were damaged or destroyed. The fires of 2002 have already produced frightening events in several counties, as a result of rather modest rainstorms in most cases. Recognizing the threat, an effort to map flood hazards at selected sites in Colorado has begun. The USGS is preparing these maps in cooperation with the Bureau of Reclamation. While the CWCB is aware of these efforts and speaking with the scientists who are preparing the maps, they are not ready at this point. In addition, the CWCB has been told that these maps will not be integrated into the countywide PIS' for those counties, at least not by the USGS. It is critical that this information be incorporated into the PIS 12/26/2002 Page 24 of 38