Click the link to read the article on the Pagosa Springs Sun website (Kristy Burnett):
On April 1, Gov. Jared Polis and the Colorado State Forest Service (CSFS) announced $7.04 million in wildfire mitigation grants.
In total, the CSFS will award the $7.04 million to 37 projects in 26 counties across Colorado.
Included in the funding is Wildfire Adapted Partnership for community fuels reduction in Southwest Colorado
Colorado’s diverse forests cover more than 24 million acres, and they provide crucial benefits, including clean air and water, habitat for wildlife, outdoor recreation and more.
All of these values that Colorado’s forests provide are at risk of wildfire. Since 2018, the state of Colorado has provided funding to assist communities and groups across Colorado to reduce their wildfire risk and promote forest health through the Forest Restoration and Wildfire Risk Mitigation (FRWRM) grant program, administered by the CSFS.
“Preventing wildfires is an all-hands-on-deck effort in Colorado. Wildfires continue to be a serious threat to Colorado communities, and investing in fire mitigation initiatives and helping communities create defensible spaces helps all Coloradans and firefighters to be better prepared in the event of a fire emergency. This $7.04 million in wildfire grants will provide the essential resources that are crucial to continue building resilience to wildfires across Colorado,” Polis said.
The FRWRM grant program has a matching requirement, either through cash or in-kind contributions.
Award recipients in areas with fewer economic resources, as defined by the social vulnerability index layer within the Colorado Forest Atlas, must match 25 percent of the project total, and all other award recipients must match 50 percent of the total project cost, amounting to nearly $9 million in match.
With these matching funds included, communities and groups across Colorado will invest about $16 million in efforts dedicated to forest restoration and wildfire mitigation. The projects awarded in this funding cycle will also build capacity for wildfire mitigation projects through staffing and equipment purchases.
The funding for this round of FRWRM awards will help Coloradans complete the following activities:
- Build community capacity to address wildfire.
- Reduce the risk of wildfire to people, property and infrastructure.
- Promote forest health and restoration.
- Encourage the use of wood from forest health and fuels reduction projects.
“Addressing forest health and wildfire mitigation at the local level is the most efficient and effective way to make Colorado’s forests more resilient,” said Matt McCombs, state forester and director of the CSFS. “This funding is crucial each year to protect our homes, critical infrastructure and our way of life.”
For the 2024-2025 round of FRWRM grants, the CSFS received 95 eligible applications requesting nearly $25 million. Since $7.04 million was available for this round of grants, 58 projects totaling nearly $15.4 million could not be funded. In addition, of the 37 awarded projects, the CSFS could only partially fund six of them, leaving about $2.5 million of their original requests unfunded.
“The Colorado State Forest Services FRWRM grant is a critical element in our overall state efforts to improve forest health and reduce the risk of wildfires on our landscapes, and creating fire-adapted communities,” said Dan Gibbs, executive director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources. “Colorado is one lightning strike and one unattended campfire away from our next wildfire. With about half of all Coloradans living in the wildland-urban interface, these grants provide important capacity for locally and regionally driven wildfire prevention efforts.”
The CSFS will announce the next round of funding assistance through the FRWRM grant program in the fall. For information about the program, visit the CSFS website.