Fire Adaptation
Rising temperatures, decreasing moisture, and growth of the wildland-urban interface increases the risk of wildfire damage to our community. RFOV aims to both restore burn areas within our service area and also to mitigate the impacts of future wildfires through targeted fuels reduction projects on public lands.
what makes our community fire adapted?
Roaring Fork Outdoor Volunteers invites individuals and groups of all interests to participate in fire mitigation (to help mitigate future fires) and fire restoration (following a fire) projects.
These projects create a more resilient community because – depending upon the project – they:
Reduce high fuel loads that can lead to out-of-control wildfires
Help limit flood damage by controlling erosion
Reintroduce successful native species that improve habitat and decrease fire danger
Provide site-specific fire science education from land managers
Help reestablish infrastructure
Allow land managers to accomplish high/medium/low priority projects
A catalog of project sites which RFOV has worked since our founding in 1995 can be found by clicking here. As of Winter, 2022 RFOV actively stewards 2 burn areas: Lake Christine Burn Area (Basalt) and Grizzly Creek Burn Area (Glenwood Canyon).
How can the community engage?
RFOV fire mitigation and restoration projects are designed with community members in mind, sometimes reserving specific work for professionally-trained staff. Volunteers can help reduce the risk of severe wildfires by hand-limbing plants, making slash or burn piles, removing flammable invasive species, and replanting/reseeding less-flammable species. Volunteers can help restore fire-affected landscapes by reestablishing infrastructure, reseeding and replanting, and reducing the risk of erosion.
how are mitigation projects chosen?
RFOV currently engages in fuel load management projects only on public lands in areas of significant need. We choose project sites that are identified by land managers as benefitting residential and commercial infrastructure, or projects that are accessed-through or combined-with recreational infrastructure projects (e.g. trails). Project sites may be returned to frequently.
Get engaged in fire adaptation with rfov
fire adaptation in Practice: wulfsohn open space
2020 – present
ORIGINS The Wulfsohn Project was identified by RFOV partners at the City of Glenwood Springs as a priority in 2020. RFOV helped design and build mountain bike trails in the area two decades earlier; the 2002 Coal Seam Fire burned above the area. With thick and fast-growing brush, stated concerns about the open space area were the high degree of fuel loads and the interest in maintaining vegetation in a recreational corridor.
PLAN A multi-year, multi-stage project was conceptualized to address stated concerns. In practice, this means RFOV will return on an annual basis, multiple times per year, to manage vegetation by hand. Technical advice and tools are provided by staff during half-day and full-day projects. Mechanized equipment is operated by staff or partners.
ANNUAL ACTIONS In the early-spring, RFOV staff visits Wulfsohn to consult with city staff in order to identify the year’s scope-of-work across the landscape and at specific sites within the open space area.
In 2021, RFOV hosted 1 community volunteer project and 2 group projects in the open space area.
FUTURE FIRE ADAPTATION Both mitigation and restoration projects are staff, time, and resource intensive. That said, there is an increasing need to adapt our community to the new normal of wildfire. RFOV hopes to enhance internal staff capacity, build a bigger gear library, and develop stable funding sources to ensure our Fire Adaptation program can meet community needs for training, education, and on-the-ground work.
