Boulder County voters approve wildfire mitigation, emergency services, and transportation ballot measures
Boulder County voters have approved the wildfire mitigation, emergency services, and transportation ballot measures introduced by the Boulder County Commissioners. Each of the three measures received an overwhelming majority of the vote in support.
Boulder County’s Wildfire Partners Expands Services to East County Residents
The wildfire mitigation program is now resourced to engage communities county-wide in collaboration with community members, fire departments, and municipal agencies. Previously Wildfire Partners’ mitigation program and services were available only to foothills and mountains residents.
Strategic Fuels Mitigation Grant Program has been developed
Boulder County established the Strategic Fuels Mitigation Grant Program (SFMG) in 2023 after the successful passing of the wildfire mitigation ballot measure in November 2022. The purpose of these funds is to support:
- Strategic forest and grassland management projects to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire
- Protection of water supplies and resilient ecosystems
- Community partnerships and programs to help residents prepare for wildfires
Wildfire Partners Launches Countywide Community Chipping Wildfire Mitigation Program
Boulder County has taken a significant leap forward in its commitment to community safety and environmental stewardship with its recent launch of the Wildfire Partners Community Chipping Program. The program supports all county residents with managing the high-risk vegetation on their properties, fostering a safer, cleaner, and more fire-resilient environment for all through proactive measures to reduce wildfire risk.
Wildland-urban fire disasters aren’t actually a wildfire problem
Six of our country’s most respected and well-known researchers and spokespersons on mitigation have joined together for this opinion piece.
“Major fires like this one, (the Marshall Fire) a damaging wind-fueled fire near Superior, Colorado in December 2021, are typically defined as an issue of wildfires that involved houses. In reality, they are urban fires initiated by wildfires. That’s an important distinction.
Rocky Mountain Adaptation: Adapting to Climate Change the Colorado Way
In episode 166 of America Adapts, Doug Parsons hosts adaptation experts from Colorado, including Wildfire Partners Program Coordinator Jim Webster. We learn how extreme storm events and Colorado’s unique climate have informed adaptation and resilience planning as well as how Coloradans are quickly learning how to upscale their post-disaster recovery efforts.
Photo by Hart Van DenbergBoulder County Commissioners to consider ballot measures for wildfire mitigation, emergency response, and transportation
In response to growing community interest in wildfire mitigation, the Boulder County Commissioners will be holding a hearing on a new sales tax proposal. The tax would help fund Wildfire Partners and increase the pace and scale of wildfire mitigation efforts across the county. Boulder County residents are encouraged to leave public comments before the hearing on August 4th, 2022 here.
Boulder County Funds Local Non-Profits to Increase Wildfire Mitigation Work
Boulder County has selected the Boulder Watershed Collective and The Watershed Center as its two, local, non-profit partners to perform wildfire mitigation education and outreach and implement strategic forest and grassland management projects. Each local non-profit will receive $200,000 per year for five years to fund two, full-time positions. Funding will come from the county’s new Wildfire Mitigation Sales Tax passed by voters in 2022.
Teens Inc. and Wildfire Partners Team Up for another Summer of Need-Based Wildfire Mitigation Projects
With a collective dedication of over 100 hours this summer, these groups completed mitigation measures to homes of vulnerable residents free-of-charge. Having completed 8 of 10 projects so far, their mission is to support those facing challenges in managing this demanding work.
Survey Results: Boulder County residents in favor of funding for wildfire mitigation and wildland emergency response as well as transportation
Drake Research & Strategy, Inc. presented the results of Boulder County’s annual public opinion survey to the Board of County Commissioners on Tuesday (June 21, 2022). The survey revealed that Boulder County residents are in favor of funding transportation and wildfire mitigation and wildland emergency response through potential ballot measures…
Boulder County residents look to Wildfire Partners’ expertise as wildfire risk continues to spread
Karna Knapp sat outside her home in Nederland soaking up the warm sun while her partner, Lester Karplus, napped inside during a relaxing summer day six years ago.
Knapp was the first to smell the powerful fumes of smoke that afternoon. The smell was soon followed by the blaring sound of sirens.
Photo by Cliff GrassmickWhat does a fire resilient property look like? One Boulder County resident’s home offers a glimpse.
Join ‘geology nut’ Howard Gordon on a guided tour of his Wildfire Partners certified house.
Gordon’s home sits on one of the grassy slopes making up the first layer of the Rocky Mountains. When I visited, the landscape was a late-spring green that promised not to endure. For the time being though, it held reassurances for those with property in the area.
Photo by Tim Drugan‘Miracle house’ owner hopes it will serve as a base for rebuilding Lahaina
When an inferno tore through Lahaina on the island of Maui, it reduced a historic and charming town to ash and rubble. But the fire left a red-roofed house seemingly untouched by the devastation around it.
“Everybody’s calling it ‘the miracle house,'” Trip Millikin, who owns the home at 271 Front St., told NPR.
Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty ImagesCan ‘Fire Hardening’ Solve California’s Home Insurance Crisis?
Sue Ladich spent $1,600 clearing brush and trees from around her home in 2014. In 2017, she ponied up $3,500 to clear even more potential wildfire fuel from her property. This year, she spent another $2,200.
But the more than $7,000 and countless hours of work spent in the name of keeping her Truckee home safe from wildfires added up to nothing in the eyes of insurers.
Photo by Anne Wernikoff From the Community Editorial Board: Battling Wildfires
It’s 2020. Decades from now, assuming we all survive this year, we might remember this as a year the world was literally on fire. We were breathing in smoke and ash was raining down during a global pandemic of a novel respiratory infection.
What Are the Most Effective Ways To Insure and Mitigate Wildfire Risks?
The extreme wildfires of the last several years, from California to Australia, have raised broad concerns about the future of wildfire risk management programs.
Wildfire Partners Receives $1.2 Million from FEMA
Boulder County residents are leading the way in climate adaptation and wildfire mitigation efforts with the assistance of Wildfire Partners.
Homeowners Insurance May Be Harder to Get in Risky Wildfire Areas
A few months ago, John Parker retired and moved into a salmon-colored log house on a mountain called Tungsten in unincorporated Boulder County. “Just to get a little piece of heaven, get away from the maddening crowd,” he says.
As Wildfire Risk Increases in Colorado and the West, Home Insurance Grows Harder to Find
A few months after Chris Cook and his family moved from California into a four-bedroom house nestled among Ponderosa pines in the foothills here, they received a letter saying their home insurance policy had been canceled.
Photo by Helen H. RichardsonHow Wildfires Are Making Some California Homes Uninsurable
California’s wildfires keep growing bigger, more frequent and more destructive. Of the 20 worst wildfires in state history, four were just last year, giving rise to a record $12.6 billion of insurance claims.
Photo by Eric ThayerWhat Happens When You Buy a House in a Disaster Zone?
In many states, laws don’t require sellers to disclose that a property is in a flood or wildfire area, leaving homeowners with unexpected damage and losses. No federal systems alert potential property owners where wildfire may strike next, though some states, including California and Colorado, have mapped regional hazards.
Photo by John MacKayWildfire Season Is Now A Rubik’s Cube Of Homeowner Action, Insurance Concerns
Colorado wildfire officials are bracing for an active season. That includes the recent human-sparked 117 Wildfire in El Paso County, which destroyed as many as 23 homes and burned nearly 43,000 acres.
Photo by Grace Hood