Boulder County Ecosystem Cooperative

In the wake of the 1989 Black Tiger fire, it was clear that wildfire reduction was a  priority in western Boulder County forests. But there were other realizations as well, including the need for an overall, balanced ecosystem approach to the problem and the intricacies of dealing with so many different land agencies and private landowners.

	Black Tiger Fire, 1998
	A home reduced to a pile of ashes and stone was once nestled in the trees in the foreground. The forest and groundcover on these steep slopes was also lost. Photo by Jerry Cleveland, The Denver Post
	e

In 1996, the Boulder County Ecosystem Cooperative (BCEC) -- the parent organization of the Winiger Ridge Project -- was established to identify and promote innovative ecosystem restoration management opportunities. Initially, BCEC formed to address the Red Zone Wildfire Hazard Assessment, which identified mid-elevation mountain fire hazards throughout Colorado's Front Range. However, as a consortium of environmental groups, private land owners, public land agencies and stakeholders worked through the issues they developed several more major goals for the program, including:

• Sustaining ecosystem health and resilience by developing, implementing and monitoring landscape-based forest restoration practices. Those practices include: restoring ecosystems and species at risk; reducing the probability of catastrophic insect, disease and wildfire events; managing for ecologically responsible recreation on public lands; and, noxious weed eradication and control.

• Identification and promotion of  innovative ecosystem restoration management opportunities through facilitation of partnerships and implementation of management practices across jurisdictional boundaries.

Two key components of this effort were the facilitation of partnerships and implementation of management practices across jurisdictional boundaries. The BCEC chose 38,000 acres of public and private lands in an urbanized forest area called Winiger Ridge to test landscapewide planning processes and implement ecosystem restoration practices. In 1997, the BCEC core team wrote a proposal to the USDA Forest Service's Forest Management Program Reinvention Pilot Project Initiatives. In March, 1998, the project was one of 28 selected for funding nationally.

The five-year business plan for the area included the following major goals:

• Develop Community Collaboration and Participation.

• Develop a boundary-less, ecosystem-based Landscape Assessment Document and Desired Landscape Action plan.

• Seek opportunities to develop efficient and economically sound means of pricing, extracting, and disposing of small-diameter wood products and wood wastes.

To date, BCEC's major accomplishments in administration, operations and education include:

Administration

• Obtained support from participating agencies to implement the business plan.
• Consensus reached by city, county, state and federal agencies  on the need for across-boundary approach to treating landscapes.
• Used interagency approach to planning initial public education efforts and agency briefings (USFS and Boulder County Commissioners, agency directors, state foresters).
• Developed a partnership and organizational structure for the Winiger Ridge Project, which includes: a Core Team, a project administrator, an Education and Media team, a Landscape-Assessment Team and an Operations Team.
• Initiated a Watershed Restoration Enhancement Agreement and Addendum. This agreement enabled the USFS and CSFS to work cooperatively and share financial resources.
• Initiated a Parent Memorandum of Understanding between the USFS and CSFS.
• Completed final draft of a Landscape Assessment report.
• Collaborated with local agencies to develop a GIS database that incorporates existing information on wildlife habitat, old-growth forests and forest vegetation.
• Completed scoping, NEPA and Decision Notice process.
• Conducted 2 field tours for Washington, D.C. staff and U.S.F.S. program managers.

Operations:

• Prescribed burns implemented on Enchanted Mesa (45 acres owned by the City of Boulder); Shanahan Ridge (65 acres owned by the City of Boulder); Walker Ranch (85 acres owned by Boulder County) and Winiger Ridge (310 acres controlled by the USFS).

• CSFS provided technical assistance to 38 landowners, completed five stewardship plans and completed thinning and wildfire mitigation on 27 acres of private lands.

• City of Boulder conducted roadside fuel breaks and mitigation activities on Flagstaff Mountain and conducted noxious weed inventory and control activities.

• Cherryvale Fire District conducted defensible space work around 37 homes.

• Denver Water conducted noxious weed inventory and control activities and stand exams.

• Boulder County thinned 105 acres on Walker Ranch.

• Utilized MOU and the Watershed Enhancement Agreement to conduct noxious weed inventories and stand exams across agency boundaries.

• A local Forest Product Industry focus group was convened to identify opportunities and challenges for marketing and utilizing small-diameter material from forest restoration activities.

• CSFS completed a Forest Stewardship Plan for the Gross Reservoir property.

• CSFS prepared forest management prescriptions for Boulder County's Reynolds Ranch property on Magnolia Road.

• CSFS prepared a prescribed burn plan for Eldorado Canyon State Park's Crescent Meadows area.

• Received a noxious weed grant from the Colorado State Department of Agriculture to conduct noxious weed control activities and education in the project area. To date, control activities have been conducted on all lands. A native grass seed mix has been prepared to assist with revegetation efforts.

• The City of Boulder has completed thinning and wildlife habitat improvement work on approximately 115 acres.

Education

	Informational Kiosks
	Two informational kiosks have been established in the Winiger Ridge area.

• Conducted 15 workshops and field tours.

• Conducted two legislative information sessions and tours.

• Established two informational kiosks

• Prepared a five-stop, self-guided informational tour.

• Produced three newsletter (distributed to 4,000 landowners, constituents and stakeholders).

• Provided information packets to landowners upon request.

• Conducted site visits for private landowners to address technical assistance for forest management, insect/disease, wildfire mitigation and noxious weeks.

• Conducted two Forest Information and Demonstration Fairs to highlight: "Light-on-the-Land" harvesting, small diameter wood products, and technical information on ecosystem health.