From the Summit County Citizens Voice (Bob Berwyn):
Persistence by Sens. Mark Udall and Michael Bennet paid off this week, as the U.S. Senate passed legislation that includes $65.5 million to help communities like El Paso County and Larimer County repair watersheds damaged in last summer’s wildfires. Udall said it was a major victory for Colorado, with Emergency Watershed Protection (EWP) program funds also included in the Continuing Resolution that passed the U.S. House of Representatives.
The money will help Colorado communities affected by the devastating High Park and Waldo Canyon fires to deal with degraded water quality, high flooding risk and eroded watersheds…
The Emergency Watershed Protection program supports efforts to restore eroded watersheds and damaged drinking water infrastructure. Udall and Bennet have led the fight to secure funds since the devastating 2012 wildfire season. As a result of the historic High Park Fire in northern Colorado, the area supplying drinking water to communities including Greeley and Fort Collins has a high risk of flooding, road washouts and water quality degradation.
Similarly, in Colorado Springs, utility infrastructure was badly damaged in the wake of last year’s wildfire season.
From the Colorado Springs Independent (J. Adrian Stanley):
The summer monsoon season approaches, and 18,247 acres of blackened earth waits, ready to unleash a fury that could prove more damaging than the fire that killed two people and destroyed nearly 350 homes. Experts agree: One fast, hard rainstorm over the Waldo Canyon burn scar could send a torrent downhill, taking houses, businesses, roads, utility lines and lives.
It could come in the afternoon, rushing toward crowds of tourists in downtown Manitou Springs. It could come in the middle of the night, catching Pleasant Valley neighborhood residents as they sleep.
Some who watched the Waldo Canyon Fire approach through their windows may feel they know the drill: Pack your bags and wait for the knock on the door. But most will receive no such direct warning in a flood evacuation. In fact, those who have studied our risk say they are struggling to relay a single, essential message: You’re on your own this time around, and you’d better be ready.
Carol Ekarius, executive director of the Coalition for the Upper South Platte, has directed fire and flood recovery work for the 2002 Hayman Fire and other large burns. She’s seen her share of devastating floods. Still, in terms of flood risk, she calls Waldo “the scariest fire in the country.”
From the Loveland Reporter-Herald (Pamela Dickman):
The U.S. Senate passed legislation Wednesday containing $65.5 million in emergency watershed protection — a step closer to getting that money to communities in need, including Larimer County for mulching and seeding ground charred by the 2012 wildfire.
The U.S. House version of the legislation allocated $48 million for emergency watershed protection, so a committee from both arms of government must meet and agree on a number somewhere in that range, then President Barack Obama must sign the bill.
Then the money can start funneling into the communities in need and work can begin.
Realistically, work is four to six weeks out because of the process, said Todd Boldt, resource specialist for the Natural Resources Conservation Service.
Officials expect about $20 million to come to Colorado, and about half of that to Larimer County. The money will go to mulching and seeding hillsides and slopes that were burned by the High Park fire as well as other measures to reduce the impacts of rain on the slopes.
From The Denver Post (Allison Sherry):
While local officials will still have to compete for the money, it is assumed the state’s needs for forest and water storage repair are stark enough to warrant grants.
“It’s really good news for El Paso and Larimer County and the whole state,” said El Paso County Commissioner Sallie Clark on Wednesday. Clark has personally flown to DC several times to lobby on behalf of her county, which was devastated by the Waldo Canyon Fire last year. “We don’t know exactly how much were going to get on this.”
Sen. Michael Bennet, a Democrat, said he was proud of the state delegation’s bipartisan effort to get the money. “I’m grateful for the efforts of our state’s delegation, which worked together in this fight to secure these critical funds for Colorado,” he said, in a statement. “Passing this bill … will allow these communities to take the next step to complete the recovery process. These funds will help restore our land and repair critical infrastructure to help prevent larger costs and bigger problems down the road.”