By Kristy Burnett
The Colorado State Forest Service and its partners conducted a vast majority of their forest management work in high-priority areas of the state and greatly increased the acres of forests they managed and enhanced annually from 2020 through 2024, according to a review of the 2020 Colorado Forest Action Plan published this month.
The Forest Action Plan is a 10-year, science-based, collaborative roadmap for protecting Colorado’s forests and the many benefits they provide. The CSFS completed a five-year review of the plan, following requirements from the USDA Forest Service and National Association of State Foresters.
The 2020 Colorado Forest Action Plan Five Year Review shares accomplishments over the past several years toward goals for each theme, as well as statewide accomplishments that cross themes. Interactive maps provide locations in Colorado where the CSFS and its partners implemented projects that accomplished goals for a particular theme. In addition, accomplishments are provided by goal for each theme in the plan and indicate how they help to meet the national priorities for forest action plans.
The review captures projects completed across jurisdictions and tracked using the Colorado Forest Tracker, overlayed on the composite priority map from the Forest Action Plan. Eighty-nine percent of those projects occurred in areas deemed a very high (25%) or high (64%) priority in the plan, and acres managed increased from nearly 70,000 acres in 2020 to roughly 95,000 acres in 2024, reaching over 140,000 acres in 2023, according to data compiled in the Colorado Forest Tracker as of February 2026.
“Since we first put the Forest Action Plan on paper, Colorado’s seen some of the biggest and most destructive wildfires in our history. It’s gotten warmer and drier, our forests are more stressed, and more Coloradans are living closer to that fire risk,” said Matt McCombs, state forester and director of the CSFS. “The good news is leaders at every level stepped up and put real money behind the work. This five-year review shows we put those dollars where they’d do the most good — and we’re building on that foundation as we gear up for the hard but necessary work still ahead.”
A plan for all of Colorado
The CSFS collaborated with dozens of stakeholders and subject matter experts to produce the 2020 Colorado Forest Action Plan, which is required by the USDA Forest Service through the federal Farm Bill and is linked to the national priorities of Conserve, Protect and Enhance. The plan spans public and private lands in Colorado and contains goals and strategies for improving forest health, organized into six themes: Forest Conditions, Living With Wildfire, Watershed Protection, Forest Wildlife, Urban and Community Forestry, and Forest Products.
“I’m proud to see what has been accomplished over the last five years with the Colorado Forest Action Plan,” said Dan Gibbs, executive director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources. “This visual representation of completed projects aimed at protecting our state’s vital forest resources, communities, wildlife habitat and watersheds really showcases our efforts to work strategically across all land ownership boundaries and in partnership with federal, state and local agencies and organizations.”
The CSFS will work with partners to update the Forest Action Plan in 2030.
Kristy Burnett writes for the Colorado State Forest Service.