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Rocky Mountain Restoration Initiative
Monthly Update | September 2021
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The National Wild Turkey Federation announced it has selected Kate McIntire as its RMRI Coordinator. Gov. Polis announced a new AmeriCorps program creating a Colorado Climate Corps—RMRI Partner, the Colorado Youth Corps Association (CYCA) is involved in the program. Fuels reduction work and wildlife habitat improvement has begun at Perins Peak State Wildlife Area within the RMRI-Southwest landscape. Chaffee Rec Adopters are reinforcing efforts in the RMRI-Upper Arkansas landscape, while Partners in the RMRI-Upper South Platte landscape are revaluating and implementing new goals. |
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Chaffee Rec Adopters help steward public lands RMRI-Upper Arkansas
The Chaffee Rec Adopters program in Chaffee County empowers volunteers to conduct stewardship work on public lands. Volunteers use a newly developed mobile app to inventory dispersed campsites and take actions in their favorite areas. Volunteers use the Survey123-Campsite Collector App developed for Chaffee County to monitor and record issues for land managers. They can log stewardship work and adopt dispersed camping areas, similar to the U.S. Forest Service’s national Adopt-A-Trail program. More…
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After survey, USPP develops action plan to implement feedback RMRI-Upper South Platte
The Upper South Platte Partnership (USPP) was formed in 2015 and brought together a diverse set of stakeholders with a shared vision to leverage funding sources to actively manage forest across boundaries in focused, targeted areas. Since it was founded, the partnership has evolved to include new partners and is currently the main forest and fire management collaborative in the watershed. Given some of the changes, the partnership recently reevaluated its roles and responsibilities to build consensus around its future direction. The USPP conducted a survey among its partners and the goal of the survey was to gather feedback from all USPP partners on how well the USPP is functioning, where there is room for improvement, and what the future direction of the partnership should be. A total of 33 Partners completed the anonymous survey. Since then, USPP Partners created the survey action plan to use as a guiding document to implement the feedback. The framework, referred to as the survey action plan, can be found here.
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Mechanical treatments for Perins Peak and Bodo State Wildlife Areas RMRI-SW
Fuels reduction work and wildlife habitat improvement has begun at Perins Peak State Wildlife Area. Colorado Parks and Wildlife began a mechanical treatment operation at Perins Peak State Wildlife Area in August. The project will run through Oct. 1. Mechanical treatments will also take place at Bodo State Wildlife Area (SWA) from September to Dec. 31. The project on Perins Peak will treat some of the prior treatment areas and expand into new areas covering an estimated 550 acres. The Bodo SWA project will treat both Bodo SWA and adjacent Bureau of Reclamation land that is closed to public use. That project is estimated to be 750 acres in size. The benefits of reinvigorated growth from treatments last an estimated seven to 15 years. More…
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RESTORE 2022 Request for Proposals RMRI
The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) is soliciting proposals for the annual Restoration and Stewardship of Outdoor Resources and Environment (RESTORE) Colorado Program. Grants made through the RESTORE Colorado Program will focus on the restoration, enhancement and expansion of wildlife habitat throughout the state. The due date for applications is on Thursday, October 28, 2021 by 9:59 PM Mountain Time. For those interested, you can find more information on the RESTORE program at this link.
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NWTF announces new RMRI coordinator RMRI
The National Wild Turkey Federation announced Sept. 13 it has selected Kate McIntire as the Rocky Mountain Restoration Initiative Coordinator for NWTF. NWTF’s Coordinator position had been placed on hold for the past 2 years due to Covid-19 impacts.
Kate is originally from Michigan but moved to Colorado 20 years ago, having spent 10 years on the western slope and 10 years on the Front Range. She currently lives on Lake Granby. She began her career in natural resources 20 years ago as a wilderness ranger with the U.S. Forest Service before serving in the Peace Corps in Mongolia. In 2019 she served as the County Manager of Grand County.
In 2021, she served as the Deputy Director of the State of Colorado Joint Vaccination Task Force, helping to get the operation going alongside members of the Colorado National Guard. Prior to relocating to Grand County, she was the Public Affairs Director for Jefferson County, and served as Acting County Manager for Jefferson County. Before that she led outreach across the state for the Colorado Water Conservation Board during development of Colorado’s Water Plan.
Prior to that she held positions with Ouray County, Colorado, was the Director of the Telluride Institute's Watershed Education Project, and traveled internationally promoting geoscience research for a nonprofit funded by the National Science Foundation. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Michigan State University in 2002, and Master of Public Administration with a concentration in Environmental Policy, Management, and Law from the University of Denver in 2011. We welcome Kate McIntire and her family.
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Connecting Colorado Climate Corps to RMRI RMRI
Gov. Polis announced a new AmeriCorps program Sept. 10 creating a $1.7 million, 250-member strong Colorado Climate Corps. The program focuses on executing fire mitigation, climate change planning and public outreach. RMRI Partner, the Colorado Youth Corps Association (CYCA)—made of eight accredited corps—is involved in the program. CYCA expects to enroll about 250 corps members, including members from CYCA’s Southwest Conservation Corps serving the RMRI-Southwest landscape. This is a capacity builder! The Colorado conservation corps refers to the eight accredited corps in the Colorado Youth Corps Association. Southwest Conservation Corps is a participant, so it will support work in the RMRI landscapes.
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Colorado sixth fastest growing state in U.S.
Colorado was the sixth fastest growing state in the nation over the last decade, according to the 2020 Census data. The state’s population grew by about 15%, adding about 740,000 people in the last decade, many of them flowing into the Front Range. Colorado’s Hispanic population grew the most by percentage. “I think we have all known for years that Colorado is the best state in the country to live, and for better or worse, other people are realizing that as well,” said Christian Reece, director of the Club 20—an RMRI Partner. More…
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Dan Gibbs: Drought means more difficulties, but more opportunities for agricultural resilience
As more Coloradans come to understand the multi-faceted consequences of prolonged drought, we are fortunate to have examples of resilience leading the way: farmers who are conservationists, putting back into the land more than is taken out; ranchers who work together to portion out water for livestock and growing forage; and state and agency officials who are identifying the greatest needs in the field and supporting those efforts through dedicated programs and direct funding. More…
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Biomass Utilization
Innovations in Forest Operations and Biomass Utilization in the Southwest
Sponsored by the USDA Wood Innovations program and the Southwest Ecological Restoration Institutes, this is a sequel to the virtual wood innovations seminar back in March. New in November will be optional lumber drying course and a session on USDA Wood Innovations grants and economic assistance programs immediately preceding our workshop. The seminar is in-person, Nov. 17 - 18, at the Hotel Andaluz in downtown Albuquerque, New Mexico. More… | Notes...
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Cross-Boundary Landscape Restoration Workshop
All-lands forest and fire management in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and surrounding states hosted at Colorado State University. Workshop held March 7-10, 2022. More… | Notes...
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Sept. 21-23: Colorado Wildland Fire Conference
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Sept. 28: RMRI Biomass Utilization Subcommittee
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Oct. 7-8: Colorado Outdoor Industry Leadership Summit
The annual Colorado Outdoor Industry Leadership Summit (COILS) is a two-day event of networking, idea sharing, and expert discussions to build and sustain the outdoor industry in Colorado. summit will be held on October 7 and 8, 2021 in Crested Butte. More…
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Nov. 16-18: Innovations in Forest Operations & Biomass Utilization in the Southwest Workshop
Sponsored by the USDA Wood Innovations program and the Southwest Ecological Restoration Institutes, this is a sequel to the virtual wood innovations seminar back in March. New in November will be optional lumber drying course and a session on USDA Wood Innovations grants and economic assistance programs immediately preceding our workshop. Workshop held Nov. 16-18, 2021, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. More…
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March 7-10: Cross-Boundary Landscape Restoration Workshop
All-lands forest and fire management in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and surrounding states hosted at Colorado State University. More…
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The following updates were provided by Angela Boag and Kelly Romero-Heaney, both with Colorado’s Department of Natural Resources, at the RMRI meeting Sept. 1. View their presentation here.
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Forest Restoration and Wildfire Risk Mitigation (FRWRM) Grant Program State
- Since 2017, the CSFS has awarded approx. $4.3M in FRWRM funds to 68 grant recipients to support wildfire mitigation work and equipment purchases
- SB 21-054: $6 million for CSFS-FRWRM Grant Program; total project cost limit now $1M
- CSFS received over 80 eligible proposals totaling over $13 million in funding requests for equipment purchases and treatment on 11,000+ acres
- $6.4M awarded to 42 applicants in 25 counties (SB21-054 and SB21-205)
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FY21 Long Bill (SB21-205): $8M funding available per year (no longer dependent on severance tax)
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https://csfs.colostate.edu/funding-assistance
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SB21-258: Wildfire Mitigation Stimulus State
- CO Recovery Plan, SB 21-258: $25M ($17.5M to DNR)
- Section 2: FRWRM
- Projects may include federal lands
- 75% of FRWRM funds for Fuels & Forest Health projects; 25% fund Capacity Building: Equipment purchases; staff capacity; project planning; outreach and engagement
- Section 3: CSFS Programs
- Forest Business Loan Program: $2.5M
- Healthy Forests Vibrant Communities: $5M
- CSFS can hire full-time staff to provide support for Community Wildfire Protection Plans (CWPPs)
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https://csfs.colostate.edu/cowood/forest-business-loan-fund
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Section 5: Wildfire mitigation capacity development fund
- Guided by MOU between DNR-CSFS-DPS/DFPC; 2 staff hired at DNR for implementation
- Statewide strategic analysis with USFS partners
- Organizational assessment of state wildfire mitigation programs
- Workforce development: ~$7.4M for Colorado Youth Corps Association (CYCA) and Department of Corrections State Wildland Inmate Fire Teams (SWIFT)
- Landscape Scale Wildfire Mitigation Projects: ~$8.85M for project planning & implementation
- Funds obligated by June 30th, 2023
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Keep Colorado Wild Pass - SB21- 249 State
- This new pass will provide access to Colorado’s 42 state parks and recreation areas and other potential public lands yet to be determined.
- The legislation authorizes CPW to enter into agreements with federal land management agencies to allow access on to certain federal lands.
- Must be implemented by January 2024
- Wildlife Commission will soon begin regulatory process to create the pass.
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Watershed Restoration and Management State
- SB 21-054: CWCB Watershed Restoration Grant Program
- All $4M allocated for post-fire watershed restoration projects
- CO Recovery Plan, SB 21-240: $30 million for CWCB Watershed Restoration Grant Program
- $12.6M allocated out of $30M; additional projects under development
- CO Recovery Plan, HB 21-1260: $20 million = $15 million to the Water Plan Grant Program and $5 million to Water Supply Reserve Fund
- https://cwcb.colorado.gov/colorado-watershed-restoration-grants
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Additional 2021 Legislation State
- HB21-237: Moving the Forest Health Council from CSFS to DNR
- HB21-1008: Forest Health Project Financing
- Special or local improvement districts for forest health
- Colorado Water Resources Power and Development Authority issues bonds to fund watershed protection projects
- HB21-1180: Biomass Utilization Grants
- CSFS may grant up to $2.5M for biomass utilization projects demonstrating wildfire risk reduction, renewable energy production, biochar production
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SUBMISSIONS, QUESTIONS & FEEDBACK |
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If you would like your work highlighted in this monthly email update, submit to RMRI communication manager, Nathan Van Schaik, at [email protected]. Or, to discuss any communications issues or concerns, contact Nathan via email or at (720) 584-6571.
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Rocky Mountain Restoration Initiative
#RestoreTheRockies
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