FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday, February 21, 2024
Gilpin County has contracted SWCA Environmental Consultants to develop a county-wide Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP). The primary goal of this effort is to develop an actionable plan that individuals and businesses can use to feel empowered in protecting themselves, their loved ones, and their property.
The CWPP makes recommendations for hazardous fuels reduction, public outreach and education, structural ignitability reduction, and fire response capabilities. The recommended projects are intended to greatly reduce wildfire risk to residents and ensure that communities can live safely in areas of increasing wildfire risk, especially in the area located between wildland and human development (wildland-urban interface).
Through this CWPP effort, Gilpin County and partners aim to plan and implement successful wildfire mitigation actions, including hazardous fuel treatment projects on public and private land; organizing public outreach and education; and better preparing communities that are at high to extreme risk of wildfire by utilizing the Fire Adapted Community concepts. Much of this work will be achieved through interagency collaboration, working with communities and across ownership boundaries to develop landscape-level wildfire mitigation solutions. To achieve the goals and objectives of this project, a Core Team has been developed that includes emergency response, land and resource management, and community advocate representatives from across the county.
The Core Team will convene for four meetings during the planning process. The first of these meetings was held on February 8, 2024 to initiate the project and identify roles and objectives. A priority of the plan development is to involve the citizens of the county to ensure your thoughts and concerns are heard and can be integrated into project prioritization. Two public outreach events will be held and are tentatively scheduled for the end of May and July. Additionally, a public survey will be released to allow you to provide comments and concerns. More information will be released about these events and the community survey closer to the event date.
The CWPP will be a guiding document for fire and emergency managers, as well as agencies who manage land within Gilpin County. The CWPP is designed to serve residents, and we encourage your interest and engagement in the process.
Please contact Sheriff Kevin Armstrong karmstrong@gilpincounty.org, or Rob Fenwick, SWCA project manager Robert.Fenwick@swca.com if you have any questions.