Wildfires don’t just burn. They can also pollute aquatic ecosystems

Last week, wildfires blazed across western Canada, turning the town of Jasper, located near Alberta’s Jasper National Park, into ashes. The local government estimated that the fire damaged or destroyed up to half of the town’s structures. The wildfires carry a lesson for the Colorado Rockies and the people who live here. When wildfires move into urban spaces and burn down artificial structures, the impacts can be far-reaching, said Lauren Magliozzi, a biogeochemist in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering at CU Boulder.