The Northern Colorado Fireshed Fund Awards over $1,000,000 to Local Organizations for Wildfire Resiliency Work
Since 2023, The Northern Colorado Fireshed Fund, in partnership with the National Forest Foundation, has awarded over $2.3 million to support community-led wildfire resiliency work in landscapes across Northern Colorado. In the latest grant cycle, the Fireshed Fund awarded over $1,045,000 to community groups to make our forests more resilient, our communities safer, and keep our water supplies reliable.
The Fireshed Fund awards grants to community partners across the Northern Colorado Fireshed boundary to add capacity for partners to conduct planning and community outreach that will help to increase the pace and scale of forest treatments. This round of funding supports 9 groups across five counties in Colorado: Clear Creek, Boulder, Gilpin, Larimer, and Jefferson. Individual grants from the Fireshed Fund range from $65,000 to $130,000 and leverage additional federal, state, and private funds for wildfire resiliency work.
“We’re excited to continue supporting the Northern Colorado Fireshed Collaborative’s mission to increase the pace and scale of forest health treatments. This round of the Fireshed Fund will fill critical gaps in capacity, planning, and outreach, allowing our partners to advance wildfire mitigation projects in Northern Colorado.” — Shayna Jones, Rocky Mountain Region Program Manager, National Forest Foundation
The Northern Colorado Fireshed Fund utilizes a collaboratively developed spatial strategy to align community-led treatments with treatments on Forest Service lands in high-priority areas. Since wildfires in the Western U.S. burn across geographic boundaries, this approach ensures the creation of contiguous treatment areas that are more effective at protecting both forest health and community safety than stand-alone individual treatments.
Grants are evaluated and approved by NCFC’s Investment Committee, which consists of partner representative’s member organizations appointed by the Steering Committee.
This year’s Fireshed Fund awards are made possible by funding from a variety of sources including the U.S. Forest Service, Zoom, and The Nature Conservancy.
| Organization | Project Description | Location | Amount |
| Peaks to People | Big Thompson Watershed Health Partnership facilitation | Larimer County | $90,000 |
| Boulder West Wildfire Authority | Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) implementation and fire prevention outreach and education | Boulder County | $90,000 |
| Coalitions and Collaboratives | Staff and collaborative planning capacity for Clear Creek Watershed and Forest Health Partnership | Gilpin and Clear Creek Counties | $125,000 |
| Coalition for the Poudre River Watershed | Northern Larimer Operations Group coordination, private lands burn planning, and up to 44 acres of forest restoration | Larimer County | $130,000 |
| Jefferson Conservation District | Planning and coordination of 2 Vegetation Management Projects | Jefferson County | $103,000 |
| Jefferson Conservation District | Staff capacity (Mitigation Coordinator) for Coal Creek Canyon CWPP Implementation | Jefferson County | $130,000 |
| Larimer County Conservation Corps | Trainings and certifications for wildfire mitigation workforce development | Larimer County | $133,600 |
| Larimer County Office of Emergency Management | Community-based mitigation projects in Larimer County | Larimer County | $65,000 |
| The Ember Alliance | Livermore Fire Protection District CWPP | Larimer County | $105,000 |
| The Watershed Center | Expand St. Vrain Forest management planning, and community outreach & monitoring | Boulder County | $75,000 |
About: The Northern Colorado Fireshed Collaborative (NCFC) is a large network of individuals and organizations working across boundaries and jurisdictions to increase the pace and scale of prescribed fire and forest treatments in Northern Colorado to make our forests resilient, protect communities, and keep our water supplies reliable. Wildfires that burn into areas that have experienced prescribed burning typically cause less damage, are easier to control, and are safer for firefighters.