No less diverse, however, is the property ownership in the  project area. Five public land managers -- city, county, state and federal -- account for 63 percent of the area with recreation as the principal land use.

Private land ownership includes mountain subdivisions, small ranchettes of 60 acres and less and patented mining claims for a total human population of about 2,500 people. 

The river canyons create notable gateways into the mountains near Boulder, at Eldorado Springs and at the entrance to Coal Creek Canyon, in Jefferson County. Those creeks, and numerous other smaller canyons and gulches provide corridors for the widespread movement of animal life. South-facing slopes -- Chinook winds can often melt snow here in the dead of winter -- create especially favorable microclimates for plant and animal life.

Those same favorable climatic conditions, and access to large metropolitan areas, made the area attractive for human habitation, as well. Habitation began with the gold rush of the 1860s, although the project area was never the scene of successful, large-scale mining activities. Subsequent development of natural areas for agricultural, residential and recreational purposes, however, resulted in an extensive network of roads, trails, power and gas lines, railroads, subdivision and small-acreage ranchettes. Those practices led to the fragmentation and degradation of natural ecosystems and disturbance of wildlife, especially during critical wintering and reproductive periods. The network of roads and trails has also helped speed exposure to numerous invasive species of nonnative plants and noxious weeds.

Before fire suppression activities in the early 1900s, forest fires occurred in the project area at approximately five- to 35-year intervals. The frequently returning fires resulted in a changing mosaic of diverse ecosystems across the landscape, including patches of aspen, mountain meadows young forests and open-canopied forests. Forest insects, mountain pine beetle and Western spruce budworm helped cull weak trees and thin forests.

However, the effect of 100 years of fire suppression has left a more dense and connected forested area. Older trees and a high amount of dead vegetative material has left the area prone to larger and more intensive fires, compared to the natural fires prior to fire suppression efforts. In addition, foresters have seen an increasing trend for regional outbreaks of insect infestation, which leaves a large number of trees as fuel for intense fires at the same time.

Three components make the Winiger Ridge site especially suitable for inclusion in the pilot reinvention project: the high fuel level for forest fires, the interaction of wildlands with a large and growing human population and the similarity of the relatively low-level mountainous area with a large portion of Colorado "Red Zone" -- the area in which fire danger is judged to be the most dangerous. It has been estimated that a large-scale fire -- similar to any number of which occurred during the especially volatile 2000 fire season -- could threaten as many as 100 mountain homes.

Nevertheless, results so far have been encouraging. Citizen participation during formative stages of the program was extremely high and spirited, assisted by existing homeowner associations, concerned stakeholders and an interested citizenry in the Magnolia and Flagstaff areas.

An intense, though limited, forest fire did occur in the area during the 2000 fire season. Fortunately fire fighters were able to limit the scope of the fire, and no homes were lost. A major factor in their success, according to firefighters, was the ability to establish a fire line in an area that has been managed and thinned under Boulder County ownership. The fire cost approximately $1 million to fight. Rehabilitation efforts are in progress and will cost an estimated $225,000. The rehabilitation effort -- spearheaded by Boulder County and an interagency team of resource managers -- is being carried out to prevent excessive soil erosion and subsequent water-quality problems in the South Boulder Creek watershed.