A new group is in the process of gathering community insights and priorities to update the 2011 Community Wildfire Protection Plan, specifically for Nederland and the surrounding area. University of Colorado Boulder graduate students Elizabeth Prain, Sarah Jensen and Kirin Riddell, along with Team Lead Maya MacHamer of Boulder Watershed Collective, are working to gather data and put the new plan into action.

“The BWC just got a grant to update the plan,” said Prain, speaking of the process. “In the grant, they did not receive any money for community engagement, so that’s what our graduate student team is doing. We’re engaging with the community through events and interviews. [With] all of the data [and] insights that we collect, community members’ [input] will be considered and evaluated, and included in the plan.”

Nederland is under the jurisdiction of the NFPD, which the current CWPP defines as Wildland Urban Interface, including a one-mile buffer outside the NFPD. The town and surrounding area is comprised of 18 WUIs, or areas where people have homes, and are very susceptible to wildfires. This also means the entire town of Nederland is located in the WUI and is at risk for wildfire.

“More so, with the changing climate, Nederland’s wildfire risk has increased.” Jenson said.

Planning includes and accounts for community resources, where people can go, egress and ingress routes for neighborhoods and subdivisions, and even prepping “bug-out” bags with essentials to take. But what’s the real goal, and consideration behind creating a more robust plan through community input?

“I think it would save lives. It would make people feel confident in the event of a wildfire. We’ve heard some people say in the community that it’s not a matter of “if” there’s a wildfire, it’s a matter of “when” there’s a wildfire,” said Prain, on the importance of the work. “Especially focusing on vulnerable populations; older populations, people with children, those that are unhoused, people who live very rurally and don’t have maybe a car or internet connection…What happens if the power is cut and you rely on power to your home for a medical device? It’s about these complex identities that the community has, how we protect them, and plan successfully.”

Another goal is mitigating wildfire risk to personal and municipal property overall. Nederland’s current CWPP was developed by a small group of agency heads in collaboration with a consulting firm. The document included community input through a public meeting attended by 10 residents and a short online county-wide survey with a total of 47 respondents. These respondents were residents of Boulder County overall, but not all were limited to Nederland.

After having studied the previous plan, the team observed little effort made toward ensuring local community input was part, and a far less-than-accurate representation of Nederland’s population.

“The current project seeks to address the lack of inclusion in the CWPP development process by building robust community engagement efforts to ensure that the plan is a truly inclusive, multi-stakeholder document putting Nederland’s community values at the center of priority action items,” stated Jenson, speaking of the current project. “We will be conducting in-depth interviews with community members and hosting community engagement events throughout the summer. We hope to reach as many Nederland community members as possible.”

Prain thanked the BWC, NFPD, Wild Bear Nature Center, the Nederland Farmers Market, the Nederland Community Center, and all those that have worked with the team to connect with the town. Information gathering will continue throughout this summer, with the draft to be presented to the public next spring. The plan will be finalized next summer.

To provide input and make your voice heard, email elizabeth.prain@colorado.edu or call 803-325-4644. Interviews can be conducted in person, at home or in a public place, or online via Zoom. The team has been attending the Nederland Farmers Market, and canvassed the crowds about the project.