Katherine Armstrong, US Forest Service. Landowners across Boulder and Gilpin counties are preparing their properties to be more resilient to wildfire by creating areas of defensible space around
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Katherine Armstrong, US Forest Service. Landowners across Boulder and Gilpin counties are preparing their properties to be more resilient to wildfire by creating areas of defensible space around their homes. To support this effort, the U.S. Forest Service’s Boulder Ranger District has completed two environmental analyses (Boulder Defensible Space Project and Forsythe II Project) that allow private landowners in Boulder and northern Gilpin counties to reduce hazardous fuels on National Forest lands around their homes.
This opportunity will complement the mitigation work already being completed by private property owners in cooperation with the Colorado State Forest Service and county wildfire preparedness programs to create areas of defensible space around primary structures on private lands.
Each year, applications will be accepted April 1 through April 30. Upon receipt of the application, resource specialists will evaluate design criteria for your specific location. Defensible space permits will be issued by the Boulder Ranger District before July 1, and work may begin after receipt of the permit.
The Boulder Ranger District will provide homeowners permits based on the mitigation area and the volume of trees to be cut (either a free-use permit or personal use paid permit).
On National Forest land, hazardous fuels shall only be cut by hand with manual equipment (e.g. chainsaws, handsaws, loppers). Landowners will be responsible for removing the debris created from the defensible space treatments from National Forest land to their private land for disposal utilizing non-mechanized equipment (e.g. carts, wheel barrels, etc.); off-road vehicles and other motorized equipment shall not be used. Cut material shall not be left on National Forest property.
For more information about this project and to learn how to apply, go to Boulder Ranger District Defensible Space Permits. https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/arp/passes-permits/forestproducts/?cid=fseprd894670
(Originally published in the April 1, 2021, edition of The Mountain-Ear.)
