May 7, 2013 / Modified may 13, 2013 1:02 p.m.

Ten Years After the Aspen Fire

Mount Lemmon recovering slowly from historic wildfire

Ten years ago, the Aspen fire destroyed 340 homes and businesses in the Santa Catalina Mountains and burned nearly 85,000 acres of mostly ponderosa pine forest.

Today, although the town of Summerhaven has come back, scars on the land can still be seen.

It may be a century or longer before some areas of the Santa Catalinas devastated by the high-intensity fire will recover their lush pine forests.

In other places, what was once understory growth has now taken over and may replace what had once been forested space.

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