DURANGO | Two of the state’s largest trees were burned during a wildfire north of Durango this summer, according to Colorado officials.
The U.S. Forest Service did a flyover of the burn scar to see if any record-setting trees in the Hermosa Creek drainage survived the flames, said Gretchen Fitzgerald, a forester for the U.S. Forest Service.
During the flyover, foresters were able to identify two of the five tallest trees, known as “champion trees,” had been burned.
The three remaining trees — a ponderosa pine, a southwestern white pine and a spruce tree — were spared.
