$1 million from the Colorado Strategic Wildfire Action Program

Boulder County, Colo. - On Monday, July 11, Governor Polis announced the Wildfire Prevention and Forest Health Management Grants for Colorado Communities.

Boulder County was selected to receive grant funding for the Phase 1: St. Vrain Forest Health Partnership Project. The project has been selected for the Colorado Strategic Wildfire Action Program (COSWAP) Landscape Resilience Investment.

The Department of Natural Resources will award a cash grant of $1 million for cross-boundary landscape mitigation and planning. The grant will be matched with cash and in-kind matches from Boulder County, City of Longmont, the Boulder Valley and Longmont Conservation Districts, and Left Hand Watershed Center for a total match of over $1.2 million. The total project budget is $2,222,700.

The project will complete critical landscape-scale forest restoration projects within the St. Vrain Watershed, which will reduce risk to our communities, water supplies, and forests.

Federal, state, and local agencies and partner organizations have long recognized the St. Vrain Watershed as a vital landscape that is at risk for catastrophic wildfire due to overly dense forests and increasing drought.

The proposed project is one of the first collaboratively developed forest restoration and planning projects to come out of St. Vrain Forest Health Partnership and includes:

• 76 acre forest restoration project at Hall Ranch, led by Boulder County Parks & Open Space.
• 130 acre forest restoration project near Lyons, led by Boulder Valley and Longmont Conservation Districts.
• 140 acre forest restoration project near Ralph Price Reservoir, led by City of Longmont.
• 4,000 acres of cross-boundary forest restoration plans, led by Left Hand Watershed Center.

As part of this collaboration, but not part of this grant, Roosevelt National Forest managers also recently released a proposal to consider similar work on National Forest lands. After completing environmental analysis, National Forest land managers will be ready to participate in cross-boundary treatments proposed as part of this collective effort.

More information about the grant awards can be found in the Colorado State announcement: Governor Polis Announces Wildfire Prevention and Forest Health Management Grants for Colorado Communities.