Larimer County and CPRW Awarded $9.6M Community Wildfire Defense Grant

Made possible by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Larimer County Office of Emergency Management and the Coalition for the Poudre River Watershed (CPRW) have been awarded a Community Wildfire Defense Grant (CWDG) for the Red Feather Lakes Area Wildfire Defense Project.

Grant amount and outcomes

The total amount of the grant award is $9,696,438 and this amount is applied over a 5 year period of performance. This award amount is broken down into five general outcome categories related to:

  • Wildfire mitigation treatments in open space, along roadways and on private properties. ~$4.6mil.

  • Education on home ignition zone concepts, mitigation work to establish or improve defensible space, enhancement of community social capital and wildfire resilience. ~$1.6mil.

  • Improvements to community wildfire evacuation routes, plans and procedures. ~$240k.

  • Enhancement of community capacity to deal with post-treatment woody biomass. ~$1mil.

  • Effective administration of grant and project. ~$2.2mil

This award, and the CWDG grant program in general, will help to fund priorities outlined in the Community Wildfire Protection Plans (CWPPs) written and adopted by these project communities: Cherokee Meadows, Crystal Lakes, Glacier View and Poudre Canyon. CWPPs are authorized and defined in the Healthy Forests Restoration Act (HFRA), and they represent one of the best opportunities we have to address the challenges of the wildland-urban interface (WUI) in a way that brings about locally-centered and -supported solutions in a comprehensive manner through shared stewardship and collaboration.

We are very fortunate to receive this grant award, and we look forward to implementing our proposal through a range of wildfire risk reduction and preparedness activities. However, while the news of our award is exciting, it will take a while to work through the award formalities and initial project administration components. Additionally, we want to set up a solid management structure to ensure all grant requirements are known and followed, and we want to make efforts to ensure good inclusion of community representation into this structure - this all will take some time as we want to get it right.

Giving Flowers

We thank the USFS for their trust in us with this award and we look forward to the work! These CWDG awards allow us to make progress toward the key areas found in the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy: (1) Resilient Landscapes, (2) Fire Adapted Communities, and (3) Safe, Effective, Risk-based Wildfire Response.

A tremendous “thanks” and “kudos” goes out to the partners who helped to formulate the proposal! These core partners included Josh Roberts with Larimer County OEM, Daniel Bowker with CPRW, and Alison Pegg with Upstate Colorado, as well as community and organizational representatives on the Grant Committee: Cherokee Meadows Road Association, Crystal Lakes Greenbelt Management Committee, Glacier View Fire Protection District, Larimer County Conservation Corps, Larimer County Sheriff's Office Emergency Services, Livermore Fire Protection District, Poudre Canyon Fire Protection District, and more!

About the CWDG Program

The USDA’s Forest Service collaborated with Tribes and States through an interagency working group to develop the Community Wildfire Defense Grant program. Grant proposals undergo a competitive selection process that includes review panels made up of State forestry agencies, Tribal representatives, and other organizations. The proposals are reviewed using guidelines within the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which prioritize at-risk communities that have been impacted by a severe disaster, are at a high or very high potential for wildfire hazard, and are classified as low income.

Now in its second year, the Community Wildfire Defense Grant program helps communities in the wildland-urban interface maintain resilient landscapes, create fire-adapted communities, and ensure safe, effective wildfire response -- all goals of the unifying National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy and aligned with the objectives of the National Climate Resilience Framework.

In this second round of funding, the CWDG program will fund 158 projects to help communities in 31 States, two Territories and 11 Tribes develop community wildfire protection plans and remove overgrown vegetation that can fuel fires that threaten lives, livelihoods, and resources. The Community Wildfire Defense Grant program is based on legislation initially introduced by Vice President Harris in the U.S. Senate.

In total, the program is investing $1 billion over five years to assist at-risk communities through grants to local and Tribal communities, non-profit organizations, state forestry agencies, and Alaska Native Corporations, with planning for and mitigating wildfire risks on lands not managed by federal agencies.

Megan Maiolo-Heath