Our New Community Wildfire Protection Plan
Kickoff meeting was held onNovember 3, 2018; work continues on development of the Plan by the Forest Stewards Guild.
What is a Community Wildfire Protection Plan?
A valid and current CWPP is required when applying for state and federal wildfire mitigation grants. They must meet Colorado State Forest Service guidelines. Sadly, they are often contracted out to third parties, written without community or agency input, and left to sit on a shelf gathering dust.
We are about to break that mold in North Park County.
The Platte Canyon Fire Protection District (PCFPD) recently hired the Forest Stewards Guild to help write and facilitate the creation of a new CWPP for north Park County. 311 square miles from Kenosha Pass to Pine Junction. This CWPP will include:
Why should we engage in this process? What’s in it for me?
None of us live in a bare dirt subdivision like Highlands Ranch. Our subdivisions were overlaid on a forest ecosystem that all of us share. We share the viewsheds. We share the watersheds. We share the underground aquifers. We also share a forest ecosystem that is adapted to and dependent for its health and vitality on Wildfire. We share the risk of a wildfire and unlike other natural disasters, both individually and collectively we can act to reduce that risk. Here are some of questions we should be asking ourselves as we start to engage in this process:
Becoming wildfire resilient is not possible without community. We can only do this together. So, join the conversation, learn how we can work together to reduce the risk of wildfire in our beautiful mountain community.
Kickoff meeting was held onNovember 3, 2018; work continues on development of the Plan by the Forest Stewards Guild.
What is a Community Wildfire Protection Plan?
A valid and current CWPP is required when applying for state and federal wildfire mitigation grants. They must meet Colorado State Forest Service guidelines. Sadly, they are often contracted out to third parties, written without community or agency input, and left to sit on a shelf gathering dust.
We are about to break that mold in North Park County.
The Platte Canyon Fire Protection District (PCFPD) recently hired the Forest Stewards Guild to help write and facilitate the creation of a new CWPP for north Park County. 311 square miles from Kenosha Pass to Pine Junction. This CWPP will include:
- Community input
- Collaboration between the PCFPD, the U.S. Forest Service, and the Elk Creek Fire Protection District
- State of the art wildfire modeling and operational analysis
- an action plan going forward that will make this CWPP a living, working document
Why should we engage in this process? What’s in it for me?
None of us live in a bare dirt subdivision like Highlands Ranch. Our subdivisions were overlaid on a forest ecosystem that all of us share. We share the viewsheds. We share the watersheds. We share the underground aquifers. We also share a forest ecosystem that is adapted to and dependent for its health and vitality on Wildfire. We share the risk of a wildfire and unlike other natural disasters, both individually and collectively we can act to reduce that risk. Here are some of questions we should be asking ourselves as we start to engage in this process:
- How can I protect my home from a wildfire? My business?
- What can we do as a community to ensure a safe evacuation in the event of a wildfire?
- What is our evacuation plan? What is my plan? What is the school district plan?
- What can we do about the risk of insurability?
- How can we make sure that our fire protection district is adequately funded?
- What can we do as a community to protect our forest eco-services? How do we avoid the prospect of living in a dystopian forest of black sticks?
- How can we avoid the flooding danger resulting from a large burn scar?
- How will a fire affect my well? My septic system?
- What is the true long-term cost of a wildfire?
- What is our recovery plan?
Becoming wildfire resilient is not possible without community. We can only do this together. So, join the conversation, learn how we can work together to reduce the risk of wildfire in our beautiful mountain community.
Presentation on Culturally Modified Trees
John Anderson gave a well-researched and educational presentation on culturally modified trees at our October 2017 General Membership Meeting. A pdf of his slides can be seen here. CMTs “are trees that exhibit peels, ax cuts, delimbing, wood removal, and other cultural modifications. Numerous CMTs are found in the foothills and mountains of Colorado. Research has shown that these trees are artifacts reflecting cultural utilization of trees by Native Americans and other people from the seventeenth century through the early twentieth century.” (cite from Colorado Encyclopedia at coloradoencyclopedia.org) Here are a couple of examples of CMTs:
John Anderson gave a well-researched and educational presentation on culturally modified trees at our October 2017 General Membership Meeting. A pdf of his slides can be seen here. CMTs “are trees that exhibit peels, ax cuts, delimbing, wood removal, and other cultural modifications. Numerous CMTs are found in the foothills and mountains of Colorado. Research has shown that these trees are artifacts reflecting cultural utilization of trees by Native Americans and other people from the seventeenth century through the early twentieth century.” (cite from Colorado Encyclopedia at coloradoencyclopedia.org) Here are a couple of examples of CMTs:
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