Song of fire and ice: The complex relationship between wildfire and snowpack

In the West, two elements play an outsized role in our quality of life — fire and water. We know wildfire is part of the natural cycle of life here, yet climate change has intensified fires, making them deadlier, more destructive and more frequent. Meanwhile, our Western snowpack determines just how much water we have available to sustain our people, plants and animals. The relationship between the two is actually complex and it is central to Professor Anne Nolin’s work at University of Nevada, Reno. 

She joined In The NoCo’s Erin O’Toole to unravel some of those complexities and what they mean for us in Northern Colorado.