Nature proved once again this summer that humans should be wary of intervening to ‘repair’ an ecosystem after a cataclysmic event, according to the Roaring Fork Conservancy. The latest lesson was provided on the Fryingpan River below its confluence with Seven Castles Creek. A cloudburst one year ago this month sent tons of thick red mud down the creek and into the river. The mud coated rocks and settled in the eddies of the lower 5 miles of the Fryingpan. Deposits of red silt could be found in the middle and lower Roaring Fork and even in the Colorado River, said Rick Lofaro, executive director of Roaring Fork Conservancy. 

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