Project Showcase

This showcase highlights a mix of completed and ongoing projects that demonstrate our commitment to proactive mitigation and long-term preparedness. 

Discover how strategic planning, hazard mitigation efforts, infrastructure improvements, and community partnerships are helping reduce the impacts of future disasters and build a safer, more resilient community.

Red Feather Lakes Wildfire Defense Project

Photo of a badge with RFL Area Wildfire Defense going around the badge and a picture of a tree, mountains, a feather, and a fire logo
  • Larimer County Office of Emergency Management in partnership with Coalition for the Poudre River Watershed, the Red Feather Lakes Area Wildfire Defense Project is a long-term investment in community resilience funded by a USDA Community Wildfire Defense Grant for the community to be able to weather, and recover from a fire. 
  • Roadway treatments were implemented along N. Rim Road in Glacier View and Brown Bear Way in Cherokee Meadows. 

 

 

 

Protecting the Gateway to the Rockies Wildfire Defense Project

photo is of a badge which includes mountains, river, homes, a logo of colorado and a fire. The words Protecting the gateway to the rockies is around the badge.
  • Larimer County OEM was awarded another large grant through the Community Wildfire Defense Grant program to fund a number of risk reduction and preparedness activities withing and around wildland urban interface communities. This project will help protect the "Gateway to the Rockies" through mitigation activities including: 
    • Treatments to establish and improve defensible space, 
    • Education on wildfire preparedness and home ignition zone (HIZ) practices, 
    • Landscape-scale wildfire mitigation treatments, strategic fuels treatments along key roadways, 
    • Enhancement of community capacity to manage the abundance of post-treatment woody biomass, and improvements of evacuation plans and procedures. 

 

 

Crystal Lakes Fuels Mitigation Project

  • Larimer County Office of Emergency Management and Coalition for Poudre River Watershed partnered on this project for large-acre wildfire mitigation work in Crystal Lakes. This project was funded through the FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) and it provided for a 200 acre mitigation treatment across 9 community-owned open space parcels in the west/southwest portion of the Crystal Lakes subdivision. 
  • The project included thinning conifers to achieve a 10-30 foot spacing between tree groups to stop crown fires, retaining resilient, fire-adapted species like aspen, ponderosa pine, and limber pine, and removing dense, shallow-rooted lodgepole stands near infrastructure to reduce high-intensity fire behavior and create interspersed meadows. 
  • Story Map coming soon!

 

Landscape and mitigation equipment and crews in Crystal Lakes

 

Woody Biomass Study and Strategy Project 

The woody biomass study and strategy project culminated in the delivery of a comprehensive report, titled "Rooted in Resilience: A New Vision for Woody Biomass Management in Larimer County. Among may other things, this report outlined the concept of a Biomass Processing Network (BPN) as a key means of helping Larimer County and its communities and partners meet the current and pressing challenge of dealing with post-treatment woody biomass. 

down and dead lodgepoles woody biomass at a USFS mitigation treatment site

 

  • Woody biomass refers to trees and woody plant material produced as a by-product of forest management, restoration, wildfire mitigation, hazardous fuel reduction, and natural disasters. These treatments help reduce wildfire risk, but they can generate large amounts of woody debris. When produced at a high volume or scale, this biomass can hinder treatment operations and reduce their efficiency and effectiveness. 
  • The project will engage stakeholders across forestry, fire planning, biomass management, workforce and economic development, as well as industry partners, biomass processors, and community members. Their collective expertise will help develop solutions that advance the County’s goals for wildfire mitigation, forest and watershed health, climate resilience, and carbon storage.
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The MacGregor Ranch forest restoration project was a partnership with the Natural Resources Conservation Service to conduct wildfire mitigation work at the MacGregor Ranch in Estes Park in 2017. The work improved forest health, decreased wildfire risk, and improved wildlife habitat in the area. 

Rocky Mountain Adaptation-Podcast

Adapting to Climate Change the Colorado Way

In this podcast Rocky Mountain Adaptation: Adapting to Climate Change the Colorado Way by America Adapts, Larimer OEM Director Lori Hodges joins Colorado experts and host Doug Parsons in sharing how extreme storm events have been a major driver in adaptation planning in the state. While also discovering the most pressing impacts facing Colorado, Colorado's unique climate and what challenges it brings to city and local governments, as well as examples of mitigation as it relates to climate change in Larimer County. 

Representatives in this podcast: 

  • Anne Miller- Colorado Resiliency Office Director in the Colorado Office of Local Affairs
  • Russ Schumacher-Colorado State Climatologist
  • Maya Machamer-Co-Founder and Director of the Boulder Watershed Collective
  • Jim Webster- Wildfire Partners Program Coordinator for Boulder County
  • Lori Hodges- Director of Emergency Management of Office of Emergency Management for Larimer County

  • Jessica Olsen-Executive Director of the Left Hand Watershed Center

     

    Per the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Larimer County will provide a reasonable accommodation to qualified individuals with a disability who need assistance, unless doing so would impose an undue hardship to the County or fundamentally alter services. Services can be arranged with at least seven (7) business days' notice. Please email accessibility@larimer.org or call 970-498-5967 or Relay Colorado 711. "Walk-in" requests for auxiliary aids and services will be honored to the extent possible but may be unavailable if advance notice is not provided.