Comment Period Begins for Black Diamond Landscape Resiliency and Risk Reduction Project
Release Date: Mar 6, 2023
Fort Collins, Colo., March 6, 2023 – The Canyon Lakes Ranger District of the Roosevelt National Forest has opened the comment period for the Black Diamond Landscape Resiliency and Risk Reduction Project located in northern Larimer County. This collaborative project is within one of the Priority Landscapes for treatment identified in the Forest Service’s Wildfire Crisis Strategy, addressing the most at-risk areas.
The 30-day comment period, which began March 4, 2023, follows the scoping period when the Forest received initial input from those interested in the project. Project documents, including a preliminary Environmental Assessment, are available online. We encourage comments of constructive feedback or support that help us improve the project. Comments now allow you to remain engaged as the environmental assessment process concludes. You can also submit your comments online or by emailing comments-rm-arapaho-roosevelt-canyon-lakes@usda.gov with the subject line “Black Diamond Comments.”
“We appreciate everyone who took part in our scoping period and those who attended the public meetings,” Canyon Lakes District Ranger Dennis Kuhnel said. “Collaboration with local communities and our partners is critical in managing our National Forests.”
The Black Diamond proposal creates a framework for National Forest management activities across the landscape that would create a more resilient forest, complement work on neighboring lands, maintain healthy watersheds and support local Community Wildfire Protection Plans. Proposed work includes thinning the forest and prescribed fire, among other forest health treatments. Utilizing a “conditions-based approach,” this proposal would allow the Forest Service to be responsive to future community requests for forest management in this area while remaining adaptive to a changing environment and protecting forest resources.
This collaborative project includes just over 265,000 acres of land, with 190,177 acres of that being National Forest System lands. The remaining acres are comprised of local, state or private ownership. Although treatments may be collaboratively implemented across ownership boundaries, the Forest Service’s proposal would only authorize activities on National Forest System lands.
The Northern Colorado Fireshed Collaborative, a key partner in this project, has developed a StoryMap in collaboration with the Forest Service for Black Diamond that has additional information, including a recording of our previous project webinar.
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Photo credit: Evan Barrientos