Editor’s note: The story below has been updated to correct the number of acres burned during the East Troublesome fire and its location. The wildfire, which broke out on Oct. 14 near Granby, burned 193,812 acres.
A group of wildfire prevention advocates sat on logs and stood in the shade Friday discussing ideas, goals and plans.
Each member brought a different perspective to the table, but everyone involved shared the same common goal: Work together to preserve the forest and stem future wildfires.
“We are trying to increase the pace and scale of our forest health restoration because the danger is bigger — fires are bigger,” said Boulder County Commissioner Matt Jones, a former wildland firefighter. “You need to have a bigger solution.”
Officials from local, state and federal agencies who are all part of the Boulder County Fireshed hiked through Left Hand Canyon in Boulder County on Friday to discuss future projects and explore sites for possible wildfire prevention.
Members of the Boulder County Fireshed partnership are Left Hand Watershed Center; Boulder County Forest Collaborative; Boulder Watershed Collective; Boulder County; Boulder; Longmont; the communities of Nederland, Gold Hill, and Lyons; Colorado Parks & Wildlife; Colorado State Forest Service; Boulder County Firefighter Association; Boulder Valley and Longmont Conservation Districts; Colorado Forest Restoration Institute at Colorado State University; and the U.S. Forest Service Arapaho & Roosevelt National Forest and Pawnee National Grassland.
A fireshed is an area where social and ecological concerns regarding wildlife overlap. Each member of the Boulder County Fireshed owns land or has interest in protecting land and other resources in the area.
The Boulder County Fireshed was formed last summer after the Calwood Fire, Jones said. The idea of the partnership is for local, state and federal agencies to work together to prevent wildfires, which have worsened in recent years because of climate change and drought, he said.
“Basically the goal is to pick up the pace with forest health restoration to make the forest healthier and also to reduce the fire danger and to give firefighters a chance to stop a fire,” he said.
During a special field trip Friday, representatives of the fireshed partnership spoke about the ways wildfires such as the Calwood Fire, which ignited Oct. 17 near the Calwood Education Center, affected water sources, homes and other necessary resources on the Front Range. The Calwood Fire, which was contained Nov. 14, burned 10,105 acres and is the largest fire in the county’s history.
The Calwood Fire was one of three fires that burned in the area last year. Lefthand Canyon Fire ignited in the 14000 block of Lefthand Canyon Drive and burned 460 acres. The East Troublesome burned 193,812 acres and forced evacuations around Estes Park. The fire started on Oct. 14 about 15 miles northeast of Kremmling.
“We have lost about 15 homes in this most recent fire,” said Chris Smith, general manager of Left Hand Water District. “We don’t have jurisdiction over any of the forest or any of the watershed. Everyone that is here today is here because you are part of the fireshed, and we need to continue collaborating. It’s a group that just brings in so many experts.”
There are two tactics the fireshed partners use to control or lessen the damage created by wildfires. The first strategy is to thin trees in a heavily wooded area. The second step is a prescribed fire.
“We are seeing the combination of forest thinning and prescribed fire is better — not just one or the other, but both,” said Stefan Reinold, senior forestry resource specialist with Boulder County Parks & Open Space. “Prescribed fire is really important because it removes the fuels like the (pine) needles from the ground.”
In 2014 and 2015 a prescribed fire was completed at Heil Valley Ranch, Jones said. Years later when a wildfire tore through the area, the habitat where the prescribed burn occurred was less affected.
“Even in that situation, much of that area survived,” he said.
Ken Huson, Longmont water resources manager, said the city can control only the 3,000 acres it owns around the North St. Vrain. To protect the reservoir, where much of the city’s water comes from, it relies on members of the Boulder County Fireshed.
“We are a small microcosm of the entire North St. Vrain drainage,” he said. “Without Boulder County and the U.S. Forest Service, we will never protect that watershed. We absolutely need this effort at a multijurisdictional scale.”
Therese Glowacki, Boulder County Parks & Open Space director, said the Boulder County Fireshed meets quarterly to examine where fire risks are and look at areas where each organization can focus its resources. The next meeting is in September.
“It’s just such a mix of ownership in Boulder County, so you just really need to look on a big scale and see where forest restoration will do the most good to both improve the health of the forest and reduce the spread of a wildfire if a wildfire happens,” she said.
