Forest Health Council reports details in Annual Report to the Community
10.5K acres treated as Community Wildfire Protection Plan is implemented
In its latest Annual Report to the Community, the Envision Forest Health Council reports progress toward implementing Chaffee County’s Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP), which outlines comprehensive strategies to address the risk.
It was a banner year in 2023, as more than 5,000 acres of forest were thinned in multiple projects from north of Buena Vista to Poncha Pass. The U.S. Forest Service completed two prescribed burns on 3,098 acres in the fall. Details of these activities and more are provided in the report.
The plan sets a course to improve wildfire resiliency through up to 30,000 acres of strategic forest treatments, using computer modeling technology to identify the right lands to treat to reduce the threat and protect assets like water supply and infrastructure.
The Forest Health Council’s 50 members ensure the plan’s success by working together to fund and execute the projects, among additional programs that help neighbors and residents prepare for an inevitable wildfire.