Confronting the wildfire crisis means doing work at unprecedented levels… There is a finite level of on-the-ground practitioners available to do work across the landscapes, and in some areas there is more work to do than workforce capacity currently available to do that work…
— from “Confronting the Wildfire Crisis: Making a Difference” published by the U.S. Forest Service, January 2025.
As mentioned in Part One, about 50% of Archuleta County is owned by the federal government, and administered by the U.S. Forest Service — USFS — a division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the USDA. Back when the USFS was created, in 1905, their primary concerns were to sell as much timber as possible, while also preventing forest fires.
It wasn’t until about 1960 that the USFS determined that we, the public, were actually the ones responsible for preventing forest fires.
This was about the same time that the USFS — with guidance from Congress — began to value forests as integrated systems, and to place timber harvesting in line with other forest values including biodiversity, water quality, and recreation. In 1964, the Wilderness Act established the National Wilderness Preservation System and designated the initial components of that system. These lands were to be administered for the use and enjoyment of the American people and for the preservation of their wilderness character. We were beginning to see the forest for more than the trees.
The total suppression of forest fires, whenever possible, remained high on the list of priorities for the USFS.
It wasn’t until 2001 that the The National Fire Plan was created to address the buildup of fuels caused by decades of fire suppression, climate change, and developments adjacent to forests.
The USFS currently administers 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands covering 193 million acres. That would be 193 million acres in danger of catching fire.
From the USFS website:
In January 2022, the Forest Service launched a robust strategy to address the wildfire crisis in the places where it poses the most immediate threats to communities, critical infrastructure, and natural resources. The strategy combines a down-payment of Congressional funding with years of scientific research and planning into a national effort that will dramatically increase the scale and pace of forest health treatments. Through the strategy, the agency will work with states, Tribes and other partners to addresses wildfire risks to critical infrastructure, protect communities, and make forests more resilient…
We are making significant progress going into the fourth year of our strategy to address the ongoing wildfire crisis. In fiscal year 2024, we treated a record 803,633 acres across the 21 Wildfire Crisis Strategy landscapes, surpassing fiscal 2023’s accomplishments of 765,450 acres.
As noted, this program was labeled the “Wildfire Crisis Strategy”.
On the USFS website you can find a map that indicates areas of particular concern. The western half of the map is below:
We note that a few select areas have been designated as “Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program” projects, shown in gray.
One of those few select areas includes our San Juan National Forest.
Considering that it took the U.S. Forest Service 120 years to get to here — from its beginnings in 1905 through the Wildfire Crisis Strategy as defined in January 2025 — we might feel some concern about the information distributed by our local Wildfire Adapted Partnership last week, to its local Wildfire Ambassadors.
Hello All,
Wildfire Adapted Partnership is a 501c3 non-profit. Our funding comes from donations and various grants. In, 2023, Wildfire Adapted was awarded a $1.2M grant from the U.S. Forest Service for outreach and mitigation work in Archuleta County. Those funds were approved by Congress and we entered a signed agreement with the U.S. Forest Service detailing how those funds were to be used and guaranteeing payment to Wildfire Adapted.
There have been some significant changes in our federal government since January 20, 2025. The current administration has cut and frozen funds to many departments and agencies. The grant for Archuleta County was frozen on January 26, 2025 and despite two federal court orders to release those funds, our requests for payment are being ignored…
The Bureau of Land Management has given us Community Assistance funding every year, also. That program is on hold indefinitely.
Our organization relies on that funding. We do not know when or if it will be returned. Because of that, all staff hours have been cut significantly. This is a temporary solution in efforts to keep WAP alive. Our programs will also have to change.
For the 2025 season in Archuleta County, most of the education and outreach work will be through volunteer efforts. There is enough funding leftover from State grants to continue work on the Pagosa Lakes POA greenbelts, some individual projects in the PLPOA footprint and a few projects down the Highway 84 corridor. Free site assessments anywhere else and the chipper rental rebate program are no longer available.
I have been in regular contact with the staff from U.S. Senators Bennet and Hickenlooper who are compiling information on how the loss of these grants is affecting Colorado and in particular how we prepare for wildfire. Congressman Jeff Hurd has been ignoring us so far. Archuleta County Commissioners Veronica Medina and Warren Brown will be in Washington, D.C. [this week] as part of a delegation of county commissioners who wish to tell Congress about the impacts of this grant freeze which is affecting many local agencies and services.
After 13 years of helping this community through Wildfire Adapted, I am truly sad, and also mad, that I have to write this to you all. Hopefully, things will eventually turn around, but at the moment all we can do is try to minimize the damage and continue to help our neighbors be prepared for wildfire. These funding cuts are also affecting many other agencies and services that we have come to rely on.
If you want to take action, I would strongly urge you to let our County Commissioners know that you think WAP is important and needs the awarded funds in order to continue…
Thank you all for your commitment to protecting our community,
Bill Trimarco