After the 2018 Spring Creek Fire in the headwaters of the Cucharas and Huerfano River basins, runoff from hydrophobic soils on the burn scar continued to plague property owners in the watershed with serious flooding and debris flows. By late 2018, the District was actively searching for funding to install and maintain early warning gages on tributaries of the Cucharas River above La Veta (Indian, Middle, and South Abeyta Creeks) as well as Pass Creek, a tributary of the Huerf