Grants are fueling wildfire mitigation efforts throughout Colorado
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BOULDER, Colo. — The sound of chainsaws echo throughout the tall trees and mountain peaks of northwest Boulder. Firefighters let out whistles and shouts as the crew powered off their chainsaws and moved out of the way.
With a splintering crack, a 40-foot tree collapsed onto the ground.
The firefighters powered on their chainsaws as they got back to work, cutting off the branches of the newly fallen tree.
“This is only [a] fraction of what this crew is capable of,” said Mike Palamara, wildland division chief of Boulder Mountain Fire. “Throughout the year they could be thinning forests one week, the next week they’re putting out wildfires.”
The crew cuts a tree down in northwest Boulder. Video: Peter Vo, Rocky Mountain PBS
This year the state of Colorado granted $7.2 million to programs like Boulder Mountain Fire, targeting forest restoration and wildfire risk mitigation through the Colorado State Forest Service. Aptly named the Forest Restoration & Wildfire Risk Mitigation (FRWRM) grant program, the program funded 37 different projects across the state to reduce wildfire risk, promote forest restoration and encourage the use of woody material — e.g., branches, dead trees, limbs — for traditional forest products and biomass energy.
“This is a huge program that’s been very impactful across the state,” said Kahla Montrose, forestry program specialist with the Colorado State Forest Service.
Wildfire risk is highest in Colorado in the summer, though the effects of climate change have made unprescribed burns a year-round threat.
As Colorado Newsline reported, uncertainty around federal support for wildfire mitigation and prevention has made local dollars even more critical.
As Colorado Newsline reported, uncertainty around federal support for wildfire mitigation and prevention has made local dollars even more critical.
“It’s extremely important for communities to continue wildfire risk mitigation work because all it takes is a campfire that didn’t properly get put out or a lightning strike that could result in a wildfire,” Montrose said.
Funding for FRWRM grants has increased since the Colorado Legislature established the program in 2017. In the 2017-2018 funding cycle, the Colorado State Forest Service awarded a little more than $1 million divided amongst 24 projects.
After Colorado experienced massive wildfires in 2020, the funding pool for grants increased to $7 million a year, with a historic high of nearly $15 million for the 2022-2023 season.
“2020 really brought to light all the forest management needs we had around the state,” Montrose said.
In Boulder County, Boulder Mountain Fire received a $490,000 award from FRWRM grants in 2023 to create 280 acres of shaded fuel breaks within the communities west of Boulder near Fourmile Canyon. The canyon experienced a 6,000-acre fire back in 2010 that destroyed 162 homes.
“If you look across the valley here, you can still see exactly where the Fourmile Canyon ended. It’s dangerously close to the 26 properties here,” Palamara said.
Bucking a tree consists of cutting the fallen tree into manageable pieces. Photo: Peter Vo, Rocky Mountain PBS
On May 14, Palamara and his crew created fuel breaks near houses northwest of Boulder.
The crew fell, limbed and bucked trees, thinning the condensed forest on a homeowner’s property in the area.
In simplest terms, “felling” is bringing the tree down, “limbing” is cutting off the branches and “bucking” is cutting the tree into usable pieces, often firewood.
“The goal here is thinning to make space between the trees so if fires are happening, it won’t be able to hop from tree to tree,” said Ben Pfohl, supervisory forester of the Boulder field office.
While federal workers and grants have seen cuts all over Colorado due to “large-scale reductions in force” by the Trump administration, the grants distributed by the Colorado State Forest Service remain unaffected because funding is pulled from state dollars, rather than federal funding.
A panel of 18 members from different industries score applicants for the grants and Colorado State Forest Service distributes the funding in various amounts depending on the needs of the project.
Palamara’s crew also creates fuel breaks, cutting down smaller trees so the fire won’t have anything to catch onto and climb the higher trees in the forest. The remaining limbs and branches from trees are put into slash piles all across the property so that they can be burned at a later time after they’ve dried out.
“If we just cut down trees, that doesn’t solve all the problems as there’s still a lot of fuel on the ground. Once we burn those piles, then you’ll have less fuel in the forest,” Pfohl said.
Work in the area has been ongoing for over ten years according to Pfohl. The FRWRM grant is just another step in the direction of the community that lives in this area. But in order to do the work to preserve forest health and prevent wildfires, it takes more than just one grant.
“The goal of all these grant programs — not just ours — is to work together to treat the entire landscape, not just one property,” Montrose said.
Since its inception, the grant has awarded 277 projects amounting to $42 million in funding.
Potential applicants can view future grant cycles on the Colorado State Forest Service’s website and apply for funding.
Type of story: News
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
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