Boulder County has put more resources into wildfire mitigation, thanks in large part to the tax passed by voters in November.
This month, the Boulder County Commissioners approved 12 new staff positions to assist in further developing wildfire mitigation programs and provide direct assistance in mitigation efforts. The positions are funded in part by the sales and use tax created by ballot measure 1A, which voters overwhelmingly approved last year and went into effect Jan. 1.
“It’s in development,” Wildfire Partners Program Coordinator Jim Webster said of the expanded wildfire work. “There’s a lot of things to look at, so we’re continuing our existing programs and expanding those, and we’re creating new services and new programs.”
The new county staff will help establish a grant program for fuel management projects and expand the county’s Wildfire Partners program, which helps homeowners prepare and protect their homes against wildfire.
The positions, which are in addition to the county’s existing wildfire mitigation staff, will be focused on outreach and education, forestry and grassland projects, home assessments, community chipping, community forestry sort yards and grant administration.
The staffing will also help expand Boulder County’s wildfire prevention efforts into the eastern half of the county. Historically, efforts have focused on the western side of the county that are more wildfire prone.
“Our priorities are to continue and strengthen our programs in the foothills and mountains, and to create a program and services for folks in the eastern part of the county,” Webster said.
He added that the county will be working with communities to build these programs and collaborating with local municipalities like Longmont. Webster emphasized that a lot of details are still yet to be determined, as it will take several months to recruit and train the new staff.
“We’re working behind the scenes to get things ready for the warmer weather and when that fire risk is higher,” Webster said. “This is sort of an announcement to say hey, we’re working to get this up and running and the first step is to get some capacity, some staffing to work on these issues and engage with the community to build up the programs.”
Nine of the positions will be funded by the new tax and three are coming from the Boulder County General Fund. The 1A budget is $780,245 and the general fund budget is $277,950.
The county has also applied for a grant to update the Boulder County Community Wildfire Protection Plan that could help guide these decisions if awarded. The plan has not been updated since it was put in place in 2011.
Webster said the county is still waiting to hear back on this grant.
