More than $2M awarded for wildfire mitigation, forest restoration in Boulder County

Colorado has awarded more than $2 million to help with forest restoration and wildfire mitigation efforts in Boulder County, Gov. Jared Polis’ office announced Thursday.

The funding, which is administered by the Colorado State Forest Service, will go to county projects overseen by local agencies, municipalities and organizations:

• Boulder Watershed Collective: $789,700
• Boulder Mountain Fire - Fuels Reduction Project: $490,000; Boulder Mountain Track Chipper Project: $60,830
• Boulder County Wildfire Partners: $327,500
• Boulder Valley Conservation District - Ski Road Forest Restoration Project - $157,000; Gold Hill Road Forest Restoration Project: $137,750; and Silver Spruce Ranch Phase 1: $29,000
• City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks - Bison-Kossler project: $134,640
• City of Longmont Parks and Natural Resources - Forest Stewardship Capacity Building Project: $49,000

The grant program has a matching requirement of 50% of the total project cost in the county.

Ben Pfohl, supervisory forester with the Colorado State Forest Service’s Boulder Field Office, worked with the local applicants to ensure they were compliant with the state requirements.

“The applicants in Boulder County were very successful this round, and that’s not by accident,” Pfohl said. “A lot of planning has gone into doing fuels mitigation and forest restoration projects … through our St. Vrain Forest Health partnership and our Boulder County Fireshed.”

The largest state grant, $789,700, went to the Boulder Watershed Collective, a nonprofit that works on the Boulder Creek Watershed.

“They’ve done a lot of planning and outreach in the watershed, so they’ve put in the work to find the priority areas and acres to treat,” Pfohl explained.

The forest service awarded $15 million through the Forest Restoration and Wildfire Risk Mitigation grant program to 69 applicants from 23 counties across Colorado. 

“With Colorado facing a year-round wildfire season, we must continue to support healthy forest restoration and fire mitigation strategies statewide so that more communities can reduce fire risk,” Polis said in a news release. “This increased funding in the Forest Restoration and Wildfire Risk Mitigation grant program will now be able to reach more areas … to promote steps property owners and communities can take to protect infrastructure and help limit future wildfire threats.”

The grant money aims to build community capacity to address wildfires, reduce wildfire risk, promote forest restoration and encourage the use of wood from forest health and fuels reduction projects.