On the eastern flank of 14,200-foot Mt. Princeton in the San Isabel National Forest sits 120 acres split among four landowners. Like many of the private plots in Chaffee and Lake Counties, it abuts state and federal land. And like much of the region, which suffered a 9,000-acre burn in the 2019 Decker Fire, the health of the landscape has been gravely impacted by over a century of wildfire suppression and the increasing impacts of climate change.

As a result, species like Douglas-fir beetle, spruce beetle, budworm, and mistletoe have proliferated to a greater extent than they would have under pre-colonial forest conditions, throwing off the land’s natural composition.

Paul Larger, who co-owns one of the four plots, watched as Mt. Princeton changed from green to brown over the past few years. “It’s a big concern for everyone,” he said about the damage the propagation has caused. When he and a friend bought the property in 2019, “it had so much tree fall that you could barely hike through the property, much less drive a tractor or ATV on it.”

That was the case until Larger received an enticing proposition: a comprehensive ecological restoration of the wildfire-prone landscape, with the help of the Colorado State Forest Service and the Colorado Strategic Wildfire Action Program, as implemented by the National Forest Foundation’s Upper Arkansas Forest Fund (UAFF).

Created in 2020 to decrease the risk of severe fire to communities in central Colorado, the UAFF is a unique model for conservation finance. It’s set up like a bank account, for which funding comes in from various entities via grants that are then allocated to perform forest restoration and fuel reduction across both public and private lands. Funds are managed by the NFF’s Central Colorado Project Coordinator, Matt Nykiel, who facilitates everything from community outreach to contracting timber companies to undertake thinning.

“Most timber in Colorado forests is not worth much, and paying loggers to come cut and remove trees can be several thousand dollars an acre in some cases,” said Dave McNitt, a wildlife biologist with the BLM, an important partner of the UAFF.

“There are a lot of different funding sources out there, but it can be difficult, or in many cases, impossible, to line them up for a project.” That’s where the UAFF comes in, handling what McNitt calls the “real work,” so that foresters and biologists like himself can focus on on-the-ground efforts.

“We know fires do not know any jurisdiction— they’ll burn through whatever they want to.”

-J.T. Shaver

The funding model allows for innovative partnerships, from the Colorado Department of Natural Resources to unique community-based initiatives, such as the passing of a countywide ballot tax initiative driven by the group Envision Chaffee County.

The single largest contribution has been $5 million from the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Along with the varied benefits of the UAFF, such as natural-resources conservation and wildlifehabitat improvement, what drew the NRCS’s Regional Conservation Partnership Program to the UAFF was its ability to “leverage resources to treat a communityidentified forestry project,” said Clint Evans, state conservationist for the NRCS. After all, the program specifically helps private landowners and managers.

This investment in cross-boundary work has meant focusing on community buy-in. The Colorado State Forest Service (CSFS) and other partners convened by the Chaffee and Lake Forest Health Councils work together to get landowners on board by going door-to-door and cold calling folks who own high-priority parcels that have been identified by community wildfire protection plans developed by Chaffee and Lake Counties.

“We know fires do not know any jurisdiction, they’ll burn through whatever they want to,” said J.T. Shaver, the supervisory forester of the CSFS. “Our hope, always, is to do as much cross-boundary work as possible.” The key to achieving this is to get a group of neighbors to agree to a project that is big enough to be cost-efficient. That is where individuals like Paul Larger play a major role.

"I was like, did we just win the lottery?”

-Paul Larger

In late 2022, when Larger got the call from Shaver, he immediately saw the potential of the UAFF’s proposal. “I was like, did we just win the lottery?” said Larger. The previous year, he and a few friends had taken down 300 dead trees using chainsaws. After he signed on to be a part of the project, Larger helped coordinate with his three neighbors. Soon after, the fuel-reduction work began.

Following work the UAFF began in the fall, Larger’s 40 acres are in much better shape: dangerous fuel sources have been removed and new grasses, Ponderosa pine trees, and aspen stands have emerged, attracting deer and elk. It is a regenerative effect that once fully implemented is expected to impact up to 50,000 acres on and around the San Isabel National Forest by 2033.

Shaver credits Larger for being a spark plug. “We can preach it all we want, but sometimes it truly does take neighbors talking to get the buy-in,” he said. Larger, meanwhile, has embraced his new role as facilitator. “This whole program has forced me to learn so much about forestry,” he said. “Instead of spending nine more years cutting diseased and dying trees, our plan will now be to get the right depth of mulch and plant new trees.”

The future of wildfire mitigation in the area and beyond will require collaborating across interests, authorities, and boundaries—and embracing an approach that’s constantly shifting in the face of climate change. And that, said Nykiel, “means private property owners taking a more active and responsible role in stewarding the ecosystem in concert with their public-land neighbors.”

Hike on a 5.7-mile out-and-back trail to a waterfall via the Wagon Loop and Browns Creek Trail in San Isabel National Forest for views of 14,276-foot Mt. Antero.

About the Author

Lisa Jhung is a Boulder, Colorado-based writer and editor who’s contributed to national publications, outdoor industry brands, and nonprofit organizations. She is also the author of two illustrated, humorous running books, “Running That Doesn’t Suck” and “Trailhead: The Dirt on All Things Trail Running.”

Cover photo of the Upper Arkansas Valley in San Isabel National Forest, by Kellon Spencer.

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