Forest and Grassland management fulfills important wildfire mitigation goals: enhancing forest and grassland resilience to fire, insects and disease; as well as wildlife and watershed health and protection. Investing in a thoughtful management strategy will help create and maintain diverse and healthy forest and grassland ecosystems and help moderate extreme fire behavior when wildfire inevitably impacts these ecosystems.
In August of 2020, federal, state, and local governments joined with non-profit entities in Boulder County to establish the Boulder County Fireshed. This group collaborates on coordinated forest management efforts to reduce the risk of wildfire. Their shared goal is to protect people, communities, recreation areas, and natural resources. This agreement has been codified through a formal Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).
Our grasslands provide an enormous public benefit as they support our pollinators, wildlife and livestock and maintain healthy soil, mitigate drought and floods, and contribute to climate stability. Fire has been a part of maintaining healthy grassland throughout the ages, but the incidence of wildfires in grasslands continues to grow as droughts persist in semi-arid regions including Boulder County. With ever increasing development within grassland urban interfaces, land managers, municipalities and communities are facing new challenges on how we “live with wildfire”. Managers must balance protecting lives, homes, and critical infrastructure with the importance of maintaining healthy grassland ecosystems.
Boulder County’s forests provide us with clean air and water, habitat for wildlife, recreational opportunities and a way of living. As with all of Colorado, Boulder County is facing challenges to its forests, including larger and increasingly destructive wildfires, more frequent and intensive insect and disease outbreaks and increasing impacts from recreation users and human development in the wildland urban interface (WUI).
The links below access state, federal and local grant programs. Check back directly to the individual sites on a regular basis for updates on grant cycles or changes to grant programs hosted by the specific entity. Please note that this may not be a comprehensive list of all grant opportunities.
