ROPERS to the Rescue

COVID-19 and a tumultuous election year dominated much of the last year’s news cycle, but for those living in areas of impact, it will be a long time before the 2020 wildfire season is forgotten. In this magazine’s home state of Colorado, we endured three of our largest wildfires ever. Our own editor-in-chief, Chelsea Shaffer, provided refuge for some 40 horses on her own property one particularly harrowing October weekend, while more members of the team hauled horses out of harm’s way and donated blankets, buckets, time and more to our local community and their evacuated animals.

Soon, we discovered members of our team roping community who also played predominant roles battling the fires here in Colorado, but also in the coastal West, when record-high temperatures and dry conditions took a particularly terrific toll. These are the ropers who faced the 2020 wildfires at the fire line.

GENE OLSON

If Eaton, Colorado’s Gene Olson looks or sounds familiar to you, it’s probably because we just introduced him in our January 2021 issue—he and his twin brother, Dean, 73, have spent decades volunteering for Colorado’s Larimer County Sheriff’s Posse.

And, in addition to operating the youth rodeo at the Larimer County Fair, participating in community drives, providing armed support at events and more, the Posse is also tasked with aiding the Sheriff’s department when the wildfires break out. For Olson, that has often meant getting into the mountains to pull livestock out of harm’s way.