A Vision for Improving Forest Health and Reducing Wildfire Risk in Boulder County

WORKING DRAFT as of January 23, 2020

With changes from January 17, 2020 meeting

 Background

Boulder County and the United States Forest Service (USFS) together convened a number of government and non-government entities in the second half of 2019 to consider how they could better align their efforts to enhance forest health in Boulder County and minimize the potential for catastrophic wildfire.  Improving forest health and community protection across the ownership and management boundaries of large landscapes by better aligning collaborative efforts is supported by a number of county, state and federal policies.

For example, the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy adopted in 2014 by federal agencies, states, counties, fire chiefs and others, calls for a collaborative process with active involvement of all levels of government and non-governmental organizations, as well as the public, to seek national, public and private land solutions to wildland fire management issues.  The Boulder County Comprehensive Plan states that the County should encourage interjurisdictional and interagency cooperation to further the goals of protection of life and property from wildfires.  Additionally, in October 2019, Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed a Shared Stewardship agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture that oversees USFS.  The agreement establishes a framework for federal and state agencies to collaborate better, focus on accomplishing mutual goals, and respond to ecological, natural resource, and recreational challenges and concerns across the 24 million acres of forest lands in Colorado. 

Current Efforts

In the over 200,000 forested acres in Boulder County, the County, USFS and others actively work to improve forest health and reduce wildfire risk.  These entities have undertaken extensive hazardous fuel and forest restoration treatments in county forests.  For example, the county is working closely with private landowners through Wildfire Partners, a mitigation program helping homeowners prepare for wildfire. Wildfire Partners is funded by Boulder County, with grants from the Colorado Department of Natural Resources and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.  Wildfire Partners is a nationally recognized model for wildfire mitigation that is incorporated into Boulder County’s building code.

(Add additional current efforts by cities and other partners on forest management if available)

The representatives at the initial 2019 Boulder County meetings agreed that it would be helpful to capture preliminary views on what they collectively seek to achieve across the forested areas of the county.  It was recognized and unanimously agreed upon that forested communities in Boulder County and other stakeholders directly or indirectly impacted by declining forest health and potential catastrophic wildfires also need to be part of building a vision for the future of forests in the county. 

Vision and Outcomes

The Signatories (below) recognize, accept, and respect the differences in missions, goals, and objectives of each other and among landowners in the county.  However, wildfire, insect outbreaks, flood events and other disturbances do not recognize or respect landownership boundaries.  We therefore seek to work collaboratively and bring additional stakeholders and residents together across our shared landscapes.  We seek to set mutual goals and priorities where necessary, make use of existing forest management tools and legal authorities and align our decisions on where to make the investments needed to achieve desired outcomes for our forested landscapes.  Together, the Signatories seek the following outcomes:

• Meaningful and ongoing engagement of stakeholders in the development of strategies to achieve the outcomes and foster support for the implementation of those strategies.

• A regional network of resilient forests that are better able to absorb and recover from current and future stressors and disturbances.

• A collaboratively developed and supported fire management strategy (wildland and prescribed) so that wildfires are safely and effectively extinguished when and where needed, but also in the right circumstances permits wildland fire to be more flexibly managed in order to reduce future risks to life, property, and wildlife habitat while restoring natural fire regimes.

• Resilient forest ecosystems that support water quality and quantity needs, habitat for robust and healthy flora and fauna as well as recreation opportunities for Boulder County residents and visitors to enjoy now and in the future.

• Active management to enhance forest health and reduce wildfire risk based on the best available data and contemporary science to inform the development and application of on-the-ground activities including landscape scale and cross boundary projects where needed. This includes the use of the best available climate science that will help stakeholders understand how a changing climate will impact our forests.

• Promotion of the personal responsibility of residents who live in high wildfire risk areas to prepare in the following ways: homes are built or improved to best resist wildfire, defensible space around homes is created and maintained, insurance policies are regularly updated, emergency alerts are receivable and acted upon, evacuation plans are learned and understood, community mitigation initiatives are engaged in and, Wildfire Partners Certificates are sought. Residents who border USFS land participate in the Boulder County Defensible Space project to reduce wildfire risk across boundaries.

Objectives and Strategies/Timeline

Consistent with Visions and Outcomes stated above the Signatories commit to:

1. Support and work with existing and future collaborative organizations to outreach and engage stakeholders to increase understanding and together refine the Vision and Objectives herein.

1. Expeditiously create a Boulder County map of forested lands that will be a basis for Signatories to do outreach, priority setting and decision making.  Consider on-going data management and governance needs, costs, and seek to maximize public facing information.

1. Establish and support a multi-disciplinary Science Team of Signatory and other representatives that identifies priority areas (regardless of boundaries) in need of active management to achieve the objectives herein.  The Science Team is to develop protocols and methods to support monitoring and adaptive management of the on-the-ground actions taken under this agreement.

1. Establish and support a Communications and Education Team of Signatory representatives and others to use the information developed by the Science Team and otherwise support the work of the collaborative organizations and ensure consistent messaging to the public and media by Partner representatives.

1. Through the collaboratives, the Signatories and others will together initiate stakeholder outreach, planning, and fundraising on a cross boundary landscape scale forest health and/or community protection project that meets the objectives of this agreement with implementation to commence in 2021/22.

1. The Signatories will build, continually improve and host a map of Potential Operational Delineations (PODs) that spans the entire county.  Developed using a combination of local expertise and advanced spatial analysis, this strategic planning tool identifies the safest and most effective control lines used to contain wildfire and can assist in integrating land management objectives and incident response.  A county wide PODs map will also enhance outreach to and education of the public.

1. An Executive Committee of Signatories will meet on a regular basis to gauge progress under this agreement.  Goals, measures and timelines should be provided to the Executive Committee by each of the Science, Communications/Education and project teams after they have been established.  Progress on creating a map of the county’s forested lands and PODs will also be overseen by the Executive Committee.

1. The Signatories will seek to increase the capacity of fire districts in the county so that they can play a greater role in outreach and engagement with stakeholders and in the implementation of small and large scale projects that include private land and defensible space/home improvements.

Signatories (need a paragraph or so on each)

Boulder County’s total area is approximately 740 square miles or 473,600 acres.  207,731 acres fall within the lower and upper montane life zones where the risk for catastrophic forest fires are the highest.  There are also approximately 160,644 acres of grasslands (development included) that could be at risk to flashy grass fires. In the foothills and mountains of Boulder County, these forests provide habitat for over 90 species of birds, large mammals, and an abundance of native plants.

Boulder County, through its Parks & Open Space Department, manages over 30,000 acres of forestland in these higher risk areas.  Boulder County owned forests are adjacent to many mountain residents and US Forest Service land and include 70+ miles of scenic and recreational trails in the foothills and to the west.

Boulder County’s Comprehensive Plan, Land Use Code and Building Code recognize the importance of preparing for wildfires and require wildfire mitigation for new homes, additions and decks. Boulder County’s Wildfire Partners, Community Forestry Sort Yards and community chipping programs help support resident efforts to reduce wildfire risk on private lands.

The United States Forest Service Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forest Pawnee National Grasslands Boulder Ranger District encompasses over 100,000 acres of the Front Range in western Boulder and northern Gilpin counties. The district includes Indian Peaks and James Peak Wilderness Areas and the Peak to Peak Scenic Byway.  (Would be good to have some Boulder County specific information)

The City of Longmont

The City of Boulder

Colorado State Forest Service

USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service

Boulder County Firefighters Association

Boulder County Fire Chiefs Association

Boulder County Forest Collaborative

Left Hand Watershed Center

Colorado State University Forest Restoration Institute