BOULDER COUNTY – Boulder County Parks and Open Space (BCPOS) personnel held a community meeting on June 12, 2025, at the Community Center in Nederland to discuss the Middle Boulder Creek Fuel Reduction Project, and to engage with the community about the project.

The meeting was moderated by Laura Hickey from CDR Associates (Collaborative Decision Resources) and consisted of a series of presentations by subject matter experts about various aspects of the project.

After the presentations, the experts occupied separate tables around the room so attendees could engage in one-on-one discussions with them.

At each table was a large sheet of paper with pens for participants to write down comments on the project. Each sheet was labeled with the subject matter to be discussed.

The presentation started with a description by Scott Golden, Senior Resource Specialist for Boulder County, of the sequence of events for the project and the different treatment methods that will be used. Golden went through the Project Operations Plan, including key concepts like slash disposal and subsequent monitoring in future years.

 BCPOS Forestry Specialist Jessica Hawkins gave a presentation on data collection at the site, including slides showing tree diversity and ages. Hawkins spoke about wildlife habitat and migration routes on the property. Open Space staff will continue to collect data over the summer for the final review.

Cat Price from the Boulder Watershed Collective (BWC) spoke about efforts to treat the private property on Arapaho Ranch in a similar manner so there is seamless action between public and private land.

Erin Fried from BWC addressed the social aspect of the project and the different ways that the public can provide comments and input in person and in writing.

The City of Boulder, which owns the water rights, was represented by Kate Dunlap from the City of Boulder Utilities. Dunlap spoke about the risks of high severity wildfires and the consequences to water quality.

Preston Brown from BWC spoke about Riparian Zones and beaver dam analogs. Brown described areas on the property which could provide for reintroduction of beavers in order to boost Middle Boulder Creek water retainage and provide a wildlife refuge in the event of a wildfire.

Meg Halford, Boulder County Wildfire Team Forest and Grasslands Project Coordinator, reviewed the Wildfire Partners program and the benefits to homeowners of getting a home assessment and earning a certification for mitigation and home hardening work that is recognized by a number of insurance companies.

Nederland Fire Chief Charlie Schmidtmann capped off the presentations by discussing how fire responses will be impacted by the project. He added that there was an application for a Community Mitigation Planning site visit for Old Town Nederland.

After the presentations, questions from the group were addressed, and soon the meeting broke up into individual conversations.

The primary webpage for the project is at bouldercounty.gov/open-space/management/middle-boulder-creek). There is a link on the webpage to leave public comments about the project. The comment period has been extended until at least July 31, 2025.

In the Additional Resources section at the bottom of the main page, the first link is to the FAQ document that was being distributed at the meeting.

The Boulder Watershed Collective website (boulderwatershedcollective.com) has programs and events for building fire-adapted communities.

Boulder residents can sign up for free home wildfire assessments at the Wildfire Partners website, along with information on home wildfire mitigation and hardening options.

The next Middle Boulder Creek Fuel Reduction Project Community Meeting will be on Thursday July 31, 2025, at the Nederland Community Center from 6-7:30 p.m.

Questions regarding the project can be directed to either Michael Agena (magena@bouldercounty.gov/, phone 303-413-7771; or Julien Blundell (julien@boulderwatershedcollective.org), 720-501-8588.