COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – It’s not unusual to find evidence of bears, coyotes or mountain lions in Black Forest Regional Park. But on Saturday, May 3, a streak of Tigers left their mark in the area that was devastated by last summer’s wildfire.

The Colorado College women's soccer team continued its eight-year collaboration with the Rocky Mountain Field Institute by participating in a restoration project near one of the park’s popular hiking trails.

A total of 14 Tigers spent the day raking the soil and planting grass inside the burn scar to help rain sink into the soil and prevent the run off of the vital supply of moisture.

Seeing the Black Forest Fire damage first-hand was especially difficult for one member of the CC contingent.

Kaeli Vandersluis and her family lost their home a little less than two years ago when the Waldo Canyon Fire swept into the Mountain Shadows neighborhood on the northwest side of Colorado Springs.

“At first it was emotional,” Vandersluis said. “It was the initial shock of seeing the burnt trees. I was tearing up while walking the trail.

“It was sad to see for miles across the park because of the burnt trees. I was imagining what the park looked like before the fire because it must have been beautiful.”

The charred forest provided an all-too vivid reminder of what happened to her house in the firestorm that occurred on June 26, 2012.

Vandersluis, her mother, Brenda, and younger brother, Schuyler, were at home when the wind-fanned inferno flared up and they were fortunate to have just enough time to grab some clothes, a collection of pictures and their cats before racing out of the neighborhood just ahead of the blaze.

“We were not on mandatory evacuation at first,” she said. “My mother was on the phone with my dad, who was out of town. My little brother said ‘mom, I see flames.’

“It was really scary. We took 10 minutes to get things together before we left.”

Since the family already was forced to relocate, they went ahead with their vacation plans and were still out of town when they received word their house was one of 347 that were destroyed.

“We were on vacation and did not know that our house had burnt down,” she said. “We had a friend go to the community meeting. That’s how we found out. It was rough.”

While thankful that everyone in her family escaped unharmed, Vandersluis did experience some heartache over leaving one valuable collection behind.

“The one thing I regret not saving was a chest full of papers and projects that I was proud of from kindergarten through high school,” she said. “I think about that all the time.”

When Vandersluis and her family returned to Colorado Springs, she discovered a few of her soccer medals in the ashes, as well as one other item that was recovered by the volunteers who helped clean up what once was her home.

“I found an elephant sculpture from the Samaritan’s Purse, which helped us clean up our lot,” Vandersluis said.

Remembering the joy of finding that one link to her childhood motivated her to volunteer with Samaritan’s Purse, but the cleanup was already finished by the time her summer soccer commitments were complete.

Nearly a year later, Vandersluis had the opportunity to volunteer in Black Forest, and as often is the case when doing something for others, she got something unexpected in return.

It turned out that Vandersluis wasn’t the only member of the group to experience the loss of a home to a wildfire. RMFI leader Larry Fariss lost his residence in the Black Forest Fire and also chose to relocate.

“It meant so much for me to work for the community,” Vandersluis said. “But it was really cool to talk to him about the healing process.”

And just like cleaning up the remains of her home, she and the Tigers took something away from the day’s experience in the Black Forest.

“It was really hard work,” Vandersluis said. “Our backs and arms were really sore. To share the experience with my teammates was really nice. They were very supportive of me and it was a really good team bonding experience.”

“The best part was planting the seeds. After we were done, I felt really good that we were able to help with the restoration process.”