Colorado awards $6.9M for wildfire mitigation projects

DENVER — Gov. Jared Polis and the Colorado Department of Natural Resources announced $6.9 million in grants through the Colorado Strategic Wildfire Action Program to support wildfire mitigation and workforce training across the state.

The funding will support 24 projects conducted in partnership with the Colorado Youth Corps Association and the Department of Corrections State Inmate Wildland Fire Team.

The program was launched after the 2020 wildfire season to reduce wildfire risk while building a pipeline of forestry and wildfire professionals. This grant round drew 35 applications requesting more than $13.3 million.

“Colorado is no stranger to devastating wildfires,” Polis said. “By investing $6.9 million into these local wildfire prevention initiatives, we are reducing fire risk for our communities and watersheds while creating good-paying jobs and training the workforce Colorado needs.”

The 2025 Workforce Development grants will fund fuel reduction projects designed for early-career hand crews. Work includes creating fuel breaks, reducing hazardous fuels in high-risk areas and improving evacuation routes. Projects were selected in part based on how they connect with other treatments to increase landscape-scale protection.

The program is also funding projects addressing impacts from the mountain pine beetle outbreak along the Front Range. Since 2022, COSWAP has invested more than $20 million in 56 Front Range projects.

The grants include several targeted efforts:

• Frisco wildland urban interface project in Summit County, $448,640. SWIFT crews will remove dead and downed trees in the White River National Forest near residential and recreation areas.
• Emerald Mountain project near Steamboat Springs, $173,314. Rocky Mountain Youth Corps will recruit Colorado National Guard members to work with the Bureau of Land Management on wildfire mitigation.
• Hotchkiss Fire District training in Delta County, $6,188. The volunteer department will receive chainsaw training to expand mitigation capabilities.
• La Plata County cross-boundary project, $412,875. Southwest Conservation Corps and Ancestral Lands Conservation Corps will coordinate treatments between the San Juan National Forest and the Durango Hills subdivision.

“This funding enables us to focus where wildfire risk is highest,” said Dan Gibbs, executive director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources.

The workforce grants are awarded on a two-year cycle, with the next funding opportunity expected in fall 2027.