Brett Wolk, co-lead of the Colorado Forest Restoration Institute, spoke with Denver7 about the history of Colorado's approach to wildfires, its evolution and its impact today.

The Northern Colorado Fireshed Collaborative (NCFC), in partnership with the Arapaho & Roosevelt National Forests, is pleased to announce the four artists selected for its inaugural Artist in Residence Program.

Chosen from a competitive pool of applicants, the artists represent a diverse range of creative disciplines and perspectives. Throughout the summer, each artist will spend a week immersed in the forests of Northern Colorado.

Magic Feather project in northern Colorado stands as an example of what science-supported forest management can accomplish. This area supports all the benefits a healthy forest has to offer: recreation, clean water, wildlife viewing, and much more. A guiding framework for forest restoration treatments in Colorado Front Range forests was co-developed by researchers and managers. 

Learn more about prescribed fire common terminology in this helpful resource!

Last month, the Northern Colorado Fireshed Collaborative (NoCo Fireshed) partnered with Trees, Water, & People (TWP) and The Nature Conservancy Colorado to host a two-day cultural burning workshop for practitioners. Over 40 Fireshed partners attended, joining a dynamic learning environment grounded in shared knowledge, reflection, and relationship-building.

The Northern Colorado Fireshed Collaborative (NCFC), in partnership with the Arapaho & Roosevelt National Forests, is opening applications for its inaugural 2026 Artist in Residence (AiR) Program. The program invites artists to explore and interpret the landscapes, ecosystems, and communities shaped by fire (both planned and unplanned) in Northern Colorado. 

In 2025, the Northern Colorado Fireshed Collaborative (NCFC) focused its attention on evaluating, quantifying, and amplifying our collective impact. Following our inaugural 2024 Annual Report, the NCFC and our partners invested in data-driven assessments of treatment effectiveness, engaged with local communities around the benefits of prescribed fire through Fire Lives Here film screenings, and started bridging the gap between mitigation and fire response through an analysis of the Alexander Mountain Fire.

Across Colorado’s Front Range, community members are gathering for screenings of Fire Lives Here—a powerful new film that explores the relationship between people, forest, and fire. Fire is a natural and important force here in Colorado, and this film invites viewers to better understand how we live with it rather than simply react to it.

The challenges facing Northern Colorado’s forests and watersheds are larger than any single organization can solve alone. Recognizing this, Peaks to People Water Fund launched the Big Thompson Watershed Health Partnership (BTWHP) in late 2022 to provide the collaboration and shared strategy required to meaningfully reduce wildfire risk and strengthen watershed resilience.

November 2025 marked an important milestone for prescribed fire across Northern Colorado. In partnership with local fire districts, land managers, and regional collaborators, three prescribed fires were successfully implemented using broadcast burning—demonstrating what’s possible when planning, training, and partnership come together on the landscape.

Fire is a natural and important part of a healthy Colorado ecosystem. Northern Colorado, with its picturesque landscapes and vibrant communities, is no stranger to wildfire. The region’s unique blend of dry climate, dense forests, and gusty winds creates a perfect storm for wildfires to wreak havoc.

Fire managers on the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests are preparing for pile burning season this winter. Current and forecasted weather conditions may create favorable pile burning conditions over the next several months.

Colorado Forest Restoration Institute (CFRI), a key partner of the NoCo Fireshed, recently released a study showing that areas with prior forest treatments, like thinning, prescribed fire, or previous wildfire, burned less severely than in untreated areas during the wildfires in 2020.

With support from the Fireshed Fund through the Larimer County Community Mitigation Grant Program, the Soldier Canyon community is taking big steps to reduce wildfire risk.

At The Fireshed Fund, we’re proud to see our funding at work strengthening local wildfire resilience across Larimer County.  

Recently, three responders from Rist Canyon Volunteer Fire Department (RCVFD) wrapped up an S-212 Chainsaw Course lead by The Ember Alliance. The training helped bring together participants from Glacier View, Poudre Canyon, and Rist Canyon volunteer fire departments. 

The St. Vrain Forest Health Partnership (SVFHP) recently hosted a community field tour to the Coulson Gulch area, giving community members the opportunity to learn more about the USDA Forest Service’s St. Vrain Forest Health Project and how collaborative forest management efforts are shaping the future of the St. Vrain Watershed. 

Earlier this month work started on the first roadway treatment within the Red Feather Lakes Area Wildfire Defense Project, a multi-year, $9.7M grant co-managed by NoCo Fireshed partners: Coalition for the Poudre River Watershed (CPRW) and the Larimer County Office of Emergency Management. Funding from this grant is available to treat up to 10 miles of roadway in the project area.

Clear Creek County has not experienced disturbance in the form of wildfire in over a hundred years. As Forest and Mitigation Manager for the Clear Creek Watershed & Forest Health Partnership, Kelby is working to change that trajectory.

On August 1, the Northern Colorado Fireshed Collaborative, in partnership with the National Forest Foundation (NFF) and the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests, will debut Fire Lives Here on PBS streaming platforms. This powerful new documentary explores Colorado’s evolving relationship with wildfire and the growing movement to return planned fire to the landscape as a strategy to reduce the risk of destructive fires and create more resilient forests.

Following four years of planning, public involvement and environmental assessment, the United States Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service has approved plans to conduct forest management across 43,000 acres of National Forest within the 625,000-acre St. Vrain Watershed west of Lyons, Colo.