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Governor Owens Endorses Report on Front Range Wildfire Risks and Forest Health

Environmental Groups, Industry Groups, Academics, and Local, State and Federal Agencies Come Together With Initiatives to Protect Communities and Restore Forest Health along Colorado’s Front Range

Denver, Colorado—May 19, 2006—On May 18 during a meeting of The Nature Conservancy’s Colorado Council, Governor Bill Owens endorsed the findings and recommendations in the Front Range Fuels Treatment Partnership Roundtable report, which focuses on community protection and forest health.

“This is exactly the sort of collaborative effort that is necessary if Colorado is to move forward on the challenges of wildfire and forest health,” Owens said. The findings in this report should not be limited to the Front Range, but should serve as a model for other areas. Most forested communities throughout Colorado face similar challenges and the Roundtable’s report offers a realistic way forward.”

The Front Range Fuels Treatment Partnership Roundtable is a precedent-setting consortium of 30 organizations including representatives from environmental organizations, academic and scientific communities, local governments, and federal and state agencies. For the past two years, Roundtable members have worked together to develop a vision and roadmap that addresses the significant and numerous risks and challenges wildfires pose to Front Range forests, communities, natural resources and human lives.

Roundtable members also have cultivated support for the work of the Front Range Fuels Treatment Partnership, an interagency partnership to reduce wildland fire risks through sustained fuels treatment. The Partnership was formed following the 2002 fire season, the worst in Colorado’s recorded history. 

 “I can think of no better model to address the needs and concerns of people and nature than what has been done through the Roundtable,” said Jim Bedwell, forest supervisor, Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests and Pawnee National Grassland, USDA Forest Service. “When we broadened the Front Range Fuels Treatment Partnership to include the Roundtable, we never could have imagined the energy, talent and results that would be brought to bear on this important issue.”

The initiatives developed by the Roundtable address issues such as providing increased funding for forest treatments, reducing forest treatment costs, engaging local leadership in project planning and implementation, and setting clear priorities that ensure progress toward common forest restoration and community protection goals.

 The Roundtable found that approximately 1.5 million acres of forest may need to be treated, and much of that—60 percent—is in private ownership. At an average cost of more than $400 per acre, treatment costs could exceed $15 million annually over a 40-year period.

“While the challenge of treating 1.5 million acres is daunting, the combined goals of reducing fire risk and restoring Front Range forests are achievable. And that success depends on leadership and action by federal, state and local governments, as well as the involvement of Front Range communities and other stakeholders” said Brian McPeek, deputy state director for The Nature Conservancy of Colorado.
 
“The idea that 60 percent of the land in need of treatment is privately owned, which means it often is not contiguous, can make treatment expensive and difficult,” said Jeff Jahnke, Colorado State Forester. But the Roundtable has made some innovative recommendations that may allow Front Range communities to achieve these treatment goals, especially if all the entities identified in the report are able to invest the necessary time and energy. We are excited about the findings and recommendations and look forward to working with Roundtable members in the future to identify ways to put the report into action.”

The Roundtable’s report, Living with Fire: Protecting Communities and Restoring Forests, Findings and Recommendations of the Front Range Fuels Treatment Partnership Roundtable, is available on the Front Range Fuels Treatment Partnership Web site at www.frftp.org.