Smoke in our eyes

The Gold Mountain fire is dying down and the smoke has been gone from the town of Gunnison for weeks. However, the specter of wildfires and the drought that contributed to them still looms over the town. 

Many outdoor recreation businesses are struggling this summer with low customer numbers they say are partially driven by concerns and misperceptions about the fire and drought conditions and their impact on the area’s recreational opportunities.

Jeremy Johndrow runs JJ’s Jeeps in Gunnison, which provides Jeep and 4x4 tours of the backcountry of the Gunnison Valley. July is normally his busiest month, he said, a constant scramble where he normally does 75 percent of his business for the year. However, this year, with his bookings down by about a third compared to 2025, he has free time in his schedule.

Alongside the impacts of gas prices and the overall economy, Johndrow said that many of the cancellations he’s had have been out-of-state visitors canceling their entire trip to the area due to concerns about smoke and wildfires.

One customer who emailed to cancel her trip said she’d been doing research and was too concerned about the Willow Fire to visit, said Johndrow. He added that the Willow Fire is on the other side of the mountains and is being blown by the wind away from Gunnison.

“The stuff gets sensationalized in the news, and people get scared, and they don’t realize how far away these fires actually are,” he said.

In reality, he said, while there were a few days of heavy smoke over the Fourth of July weekend, conditions are now excellent. Johndrow added that, even on smoky days in Gunnison, the smoke levels drop off in the high country above treeline, meaning that he hasn’t had a smoky tour this summer.

“It’s not bad at all here,” he said. “We’ve had beautiful days; it’s also finally raining. With the monsoon season this year, I think the fires are going to be gettin’ a handle on ‘em quickly and … even a bad day of smoke in Gunnison and Crested Butte is probably better than the average day in most cities in America or in the world.”

At the Gunnison Chamber of Commerce, Executive Director Leora Wallace said that she’s taking multiple calls a day from visitors concerned about how the wildfires and drought could impact their vacations.

“People want to know what’s going on,” she said. “They want to know that they’re going to be safe. They want to know how to know about the air quality, if they’re going to be able to do the kinds of recreation that they’re coming out here to do. Those are the kinds of questions we’re trying to answer for folks and provide them some comfort that it is safe and open and a good place to visit right now.”

Wallace said that concerns about visiting Gunnison started early in the season with low snow levels and an upcoming drought, which amplified concerns and news coverage about wildfires. “I think a lot of the messaging from regional and national news was that this would be a fire season, which was not incorrect,” she said. “And then having, once we do have fires in Colorado, I think the way the media kind of gets ahold of that, it makes it sound like the whole state is on fire and it’s not safe.

“We’re fielding these phone calls from people out of state that are seeing on whatever their local news outlet is that Colorado is on fire and seeing these really dramatic shots of fires. … Sure, these are happening, but it’s not necessarily the experience in our community, and a lot of our mountain towns are fine to visit right now.”

Similar to Johndrow, Wallace said that confusion about locations and distances is a key part of these concerns, especially for out-of-state visitors. For example, she said that when the Gold Mountain fire jumped into Gunnison County, visitors started being concerned about the fire impacting Gunnison even though it only touches a distant and remote corner of the county many miles away.

She’s also heard concerns about the Aspen Acres fire near Pueblo, Colorado, and how it might impact Gunnison. When Wallace’s parents were coming to visit Gunnison recently, even her mother asked her about whether it was safe for them to come.

“There is definitely fear and people don’t understand the distances and also how fires and also if these fires could spread quickly and if they will be in danger,” she said.

Although hard data is not yet available, Wallace said, from talking with local businesses, the general consensus seems to be that business has been “a little soft” in July, although exact conditions vary widely by industry.

She said that visitation numbers at the Gunnison Visitor Center are on par with last year but that many lodging businesses reported significant decreases in business over the Fourth of July compared to prior years, although many other industries appeared to be normal. Wallace added that the first two weeks of July are typically the peak times for Gunnison’s tourist economy, with Fourth of July celebrations and Cattlemen’s Days drawing in large numbers of visitors.

The gaps between perceptions and reality are highly impactful to Gunnison’s rafting and river recreation industry, Wallace said.

“People hear drought and low river levels, and I think that they think that rafting and enjoying water sports is not something that they will be able to participate in … I think that does affect their decisions,” she said. However, she said that opportunities are still available, especially since the Taylor River, one of Gunnison’s main rafting destinations, is dam-released and the community retains some control over sustaining the rafting season with dam releases.

Wallace added that, although there have been some closures at Blue Mesa Reservoir, recreational opportunities still exist there as well.

“It’s definitely an amenity economy, and that’s one of our amenities,” she said. It’s definitely tough when it’s not really the levels that we want it to be, but I think it’s important to get out there that these are still things that can be enjoyed.”

The situation in Gunnison mirrors conditions for river outfitters across the state, said David Costlow, executive director of the Colorado River Outfitters Association.

Customer numbers for outfitters across the state appear to be down overall, he said, especially in July. Part of this decrease is likely due to concerns about fires and drought that prevent visitors from booking trips, he added.

However, Costlow said, “Low water doesn’t mean no water.” 

Outfitters run trips in similar conditions in the late season every year, he said, although this year these conditions started earlier and there is more uncertainty about what conditions will look like at the end of the summer season if water levels continue to drop.

Low water levels and wildfire concerns also impose additional burdens on outfitters, Costlow said, requiring them to spend more time answering customer concerns and shifting destinations to find the best river conditions. Uncertainty also makes booking more difficult, he said, since it’s harder to predict what the conditions may be and what trips may be viable several months in the future.

In the Gunnison area, Costlow said that rafting numbers are down overall, according to the outfitters he represents.

However, he said that fishing numbers are up in the area for the time being. It is possible that fishing will also tail off, he said, with low river levels and high river temperatures making it less viable without damaging fish, but consistent monsoon rains could also help reduce this stress and keep access open.

“It’s not a one-off,” Costlow said about the current situation. “It’s just part of what nature gives you, and you've got to, when you’re in the outfitting business, you’ve got to be like a farmer. You take what nature gives you, and hopefully you can augment it, but if you can’t, you still got to take what nature gives you.”

At JJ’s Jeeps, Johndrow said that, although it’s too soon to tell how the season will end, “my bank account is definitely a lot slimmer than it used to be.”

He said that he’s also struggling with getting a new commercial auto policy for his company since the insurance company he talked to is refusing to bind policies in Gunnison due to the fires.

If he can’t get a new policy, he can’t operate and his company will go out of business.

“Hopefully some other insurance companies are willing to bind coverage right now, but we shall see,” he said.

From her perspective at the Chamber, Wallace said that the fire and drought conditions, along with two previous challenging years with fires and bridge closures on U.S. Highway 50, have placed significant strain on many Gunnison businesses.

Gunnison is already a challenging place to do business due to how seasonal it is, Wallace said, and the constant strain of mitigating natural disasters and other challenges can wear people down.

With the monsoons coming in and containment on regional wildfires increasing, she said that she hopes that the rest of the summer season will be stronger.

“It’s not a positive net gain when you have these things going on,” she said, “but hopefully we can persevere and kind of look to the future and use that business savvy, use the resiliency that I think everyone that lives here in Gunnison has and move forward.”

For the people charged with fighting fires in Gunnison, this summer has been a testament to the community’s care and responsibility.

Hugo Ferchau, fire chief of the Gunnison Volunteer Fire Department, said that, although it has been an active fire season and the department had to commit two engines and two crews to the Gold Mountain fire for a week, it has been able to quickly respond to and suppress any fires that started with the aid of outlying fire districts and state and federal resources.

He and Deputy Chief Tom McDonough said that the district has been focusing on full suppression of fires this season, in alignment with federal and state guidance, which has helped coordinate responses.

Ferchau said that people appear to be complying with fire restrictions, with the district having to answer very few calls about unauthorized fires getting out of hand.

“When I talk about people being more aware of the situation and how dry everything is … it’s not just us,” he said. “The public at large seems more aware and showing a higher degree of concern than in a typical year, and I feel like they’re behaving as such, as tourists and visitors that come in.”

He said that the district has not seen an uptick in human-caused fire starts this summer and may be lower than the average year due to people being aware of the risks and following recommendations.

Ferchau said he believes that this higher awareness is due to the broad visibility of smoke and fires across much of the U.S. this year.

“Fire’s just becoming more of a part of everybody’s life here and as we learn to live with it a bit more, people are more aware of what they can do to play their part in preventing those starts,” he said.

McDonough also credited the U.S. Forest Service Gunnison Ranger District with helping to boost awareness through the work of their fire prevention specialist, who travels the area and speaks to campers and educates them about fire prevention rules.

He said that this public education effort also helps reach people who do not travel into the area from Gunnison to ensure that they are also aware of the fire conditions and current restrictions.

“From my perspective, people sure seem to be following the rules, and especially the locals and the people who spend a fair amount of time here seem to be heeding the warnings and understanding the risk,” said Ferchau. “So, from my perspective, it’s thank you for paying attention to what the risk is and being willing to do the things that keep us safe as a community.”