USDA Forest Service to Invest Over $3 Million in Southwest Colorado

The USDA Forest Service announced Monday the San Juan National Forest will receive over $3 million for restoration work through the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program (CFLRP). This investment will expand the impact of existing projects in Southwest Colorado over the next 10 years.

The CFLRP award will complete restoration and resiliency work throughout the San Juan National Forest’s 1.9 million acres. The program will enable the area to adapt to future disturbance while retaining ecosystem function, productivity and ecosystem services. The CFLRP strategy is to enhance the resilience of critical watersheds, wildlife and aquatic habitats, community infrastructure, economic drivers and forest conditions.

This also marks the beginning of the third year of the Rocky Mountain Restoration Initiative (RMRI). RMRI has three focal landscapes across the state including the marquee landscape in Southwest Colorado.

CFLRP and RMRI are distinct initiatives but complement each other to improve conditions for people, animals and vegetation across all lands in Southwest Colorado. There is significant geographic overlap in the focus areas of CFLRP and RMRI, and, working together, these initiatives will be critical to accomplish our shared goals. One of the most important outcomes is to mitigate the impacts of large-scale wildfire at a landscape scale throughout Southwestern Colorado.

For more information about CFLRP and RMRI projects on the San Juan National Forest, please contact the Shared Stewardship Coordinator at Jason.Lawhon@usda.gov

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