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.

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. 

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.

Guest Post by Daniel Bowker, Forests Program Manager, Coalition for the Poudre River Watershed

During 2023 and 2024, the Coalition for the Poudre River Watershed (CPRW), the Larimer County Conservation Corps (LCCC), and The Ember Alliance (TEA) partnered on an ongoing wildfire mitigation project on the Ben Delatour Scout Ranch in northern Larimer County, just west of the community of Glacier View Meadows.

The Canyon Lakes Ranger District of the Roosevelt National Forest completed the decision for the Salt Cabin Prescribed Burn Project located south of Rustic and Highway 14. This project will improve timber stands by thinning and prescribed burning to reduce natural fuel build-up and hazards.

The recent announcement of the 2024 cycle Community Mitigation Grant awards offer a good time to showcase the bona fide energy and community spirit contributing to resilience within our communities. After a careful evaluation process a total of 19 deserving recipient communities in Larimer County were awarded varying amounts distributed from a total funding pool of $100,000.

The goal of this project is to restore the ponderosa pine and mixed conifer stands to a more natural state, including reducing surface and crown fuel loading across the landscape, retaining and encouraging old-growth qualities, and improving wildlife habitat.

After the Cameron Peak Fire, the incident management team created this video to describe how fuels treatments around the communities of Red Feather and Crystal Lakes helped firefighters to confront the Cameron Peak Fire.