Additional investment continues wildfire risk reduction on the Colorado Front Range

LAKEWOOD, Colorado, March 15, 2024 — The Colorado Front Range Landscape received $35.4 million to fund wildfire risk reduction. This was part of the additional $500 million investment announced last month by the Biden-Harris Administration for the USDA Forest Service’s Wildfire Crisis Strategy.

When the Wildfire Crisis Strategy (WCS) was launched in January 2022, the Colorado Front Range was among the first named landscapes. It includes portions of the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests & Pawnee National Grassland and the Pike-San Isabel National Forests & Cimarron and Comanche National Grasslands. Spanning from U.S. Highway 50 near Cañon City at the southern boundary to the Wyoming state line in the north, the landscape encompasses 3.6 million acres and impacts 80 communities and 155 watersheds.

“As a result of the Wildfire Crisis Strategy landscapes in Colorado, forest personnel are working directly with communities and with new and existing partners toward sustaining an increase in wildfire risk reduction,” said Frank Beum, regional forester. “This work helps to expand and accelerate nationally comprehensive, locally tailored, and community-driven resilience strategies.”

On the ground, implementation includes landscape-scale wildfire prevention techniques like prescribed fire, mechanical treatment and other vegetation management that are designed to reduce wildfire risk and impact to resources and infrastructure should a wildfire occur in the area.

In the first two years of the Strategy, the Rocky Mountain Region received over $55 million to treat 26,000 acres to reduce wildfire risk and support forest health across Colorado’s Front Range. Maximizing collaboration with communities and partners to prevent devastating wildfires throughout the high-risk Front Range, this target was surpassed, treating approximately 30,000 acres.

For more information visit our Front Range Landscape website.