Fireshed Partner Spotlight: Big Thompson Watershed Coalition

The southern sister to Coalition for the Poudre River Watershed, Big Thompson Watershed Coalition (BTWC) found its roots in flood recovery initiatives after the 2013 state-declared flood emergency, which devastated the Big Thompson Canyon and much of the front range. Since its formation, BTWC has restored 15 miles of river and completed 17 restoration projects through $15M+ of State and Federal funds. As flood recovery projects closed in 2019, a new need presented itself to the Coalition—forest management. Since the Coalition’s first forest thinning project in 2019, they have expanded their forestry program to include defensible space, education initiatives, communications, and assistance in community planning for forest management and wildfire response.

From its establishment, BTWC has been an organization focused on collaborative work which leverages the strengths of the watershed’s community, stakeholders, and partners to build resilience and increased stewardship in the Big Thompson watershed. BTWC’s approach to forestry is no different, which brought them to the Northern Colorado Fireshed Collaborative. Currently, BTWC is involved with the Northern Colorado Fireshed Collaborative at all levels, helping in organizational development, high-level strategy and prioritization, as well as collaborating with members to implement forest management and wildfire mitigation projects in wildland-urban interface (WUI) communities within the Big Thompson watershed.

To learn more about BTWC please visit: https://bigthompson.co/