Force of Nature

Protecting our living landscapes so they can protect us in turn.

We live in a rapidly changing world. Since the early 2000s, the number of extreme heat days in Boulder has more than doubled. By 2030, that number is projected to quintuple. The number of high-fire risk days, drought events, and extreme precipitation events are also rapidly increasing.

The city’s Nature-based Climate Solutions team is taking action in the face of these trends. We work with land managers across the city and region to identify and develop approaches to ecosystem stewardship that enhance the ability of Boulder’s living landscapes to absorb and shelter its community members from climate extremes.

Protecting Public & Environmental Health

The City of Boulder uses an ecosystem-management framework to steward its public lands and protect public and ecological health.

• Mosquito Management — Boulder operates one of the few ecosystem‑based mosquito management programs in the United States. By restoring natural predators in healthy wetlands and using naturally derived larvicides when necessary, Boulder has maintained low West Nile virus incidence without adult mosquito pesticide spraying.
• Integrated Pest Management — Boulder uses an ecosystem-based approach to managing pests on its public lands to promote healthy landscapes and protect human and ecological well-being. Through integrated practices and a precautionary approach to chemical use, the City uses a range of tools to thoughtfully support long-term resilience.

Improving Wildfire Resilience

Boulder developed one of the first wildfire-resilient landscape policies and guidance documents in the U.S. This guidance outlines strategies that reduce wildfire risk while maintaining the capacity of yards, rights-of-way, and open spaces to provide shade, water absorption, and habitat for the plant, insect, and animal species integral to stable, resilient landscapes.

• Wildfire Resilient Landscapes Policy & Guidance — One of the first of its kind in the country, this cross-departmental guidance document helps community members and land managers reduce fire risk while preserving the ecological and community benefits of living landscapes.
• Wildfire Resilient Landscapes Contractor Training — The city is working with architects, designers, arborists, and landscape contractors to train a high-skilled workforce capable of delivering fire-resilient landscape services. Special emphasis is placed on making these opportunities available to historically underrepresented and under-resourced communities.
• Juniper Removal — Shrub-form junipers can significantly increase wildfire risk due to their high flammability and tendency to generate wind-cast embers. The city is partnering with local contractors and community members to remove and replace hazard junipers with biodiverse native plantings that enhance neighborhood health and safety in the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI).

Resilient Landscapes

• Cool Boulder — A citywide initiative to reduce urban heat through strategic tree canopy expansion, shade infrastructure, and heat-resilient landscape design — making Boulder’s public spaces more livable as temperatures rise.
• Climate Resilient Landscape Designs — Working with schools, community partners, and neighborhoods to develop new campus and site designs that produce cooler, more biodiverse, and more resilient environments. The BCSIS/High Peaks Elementary project is a flagship example.
• Turf Pilots with Utilities — Collaborative pilot projects with city utilities exploring the replacement of traditional turf with climate-adapted plantings that reduce water use while enhancing biodiversity and landscape health.
• Boulder Reservoir Pilot (with OSMP / Parks & Rec) — A joint initiative with Open Space & Mountain Parks and Parks & Recreation to test and demonstrate resilient landscape approaches at the Boulder Reservoir, creating a living model for the broader community.
• Indaziflam Study — An active research initiative examining the potential use of indaziflam as a tool for controlling tall oatgrass.
• High Vulnerability Resilience Pilots — Targeted pilot programs in neighborhoods and ecosystems identified as most vulnerable to climate-related stressors, developing and testing landscape interventions that can be scaled across the city.

Community Engagement

• Garden Stewards — Part of the Community Land Stewards Program, Garden Stewards undergo comprehensive training and ongoing mentoring to tend native plant habitats on school properties, a community childcare education facility, and park sites. Stewards also engage with other community members to share what they're learning.
• Neighborhood Foresters — Part of the Community Land Stewards Program, Neighborhood Foresters are trained community members who serve as local stewards of the urban forest — monitoring tree health, supporting new plantings, and connecting neighbors to city forestry resources.
• Pollinator Advocates — A community volunteer program that trains and supports Boulder community members in implementing climate-resilient landscaping practices on their own properties — extending the city’s environmental health efforts into private land.
• Garden Designs — Supports community members in developing and tending biodiverse native gardens, including the Neighborhood Naturelabs initiative, in which 24 households across four neighborhoods are creating gardens to track ecological changes and neighborhood health over time.
• Community Forestry Corps — A hands-on workforce program engaging community members — with a focus on underserved populations — in urban forestry work, including tree planting, watering, and maintenance across the city.

From schoolyards to open spaces, NbCS projects are reshaping how Boulder lives with its land.

Nature-based climate solutions are already at work across Boulder. Here are three places you can see — and experience — this work in your community.

BCSIS / High Peaks — Climate Resilient Landscape Design

The City, local nonprofit Growing Up Boulder, and other community partners worked with students, teachers, and parents to develop a new campus design for BCSIS/High Peaks Elementary School. The result will be a cooler, more biodiverse, and more resilient landscape for students and the surrounding community.

Neighborhood Naturelabs

The city is working with 24 households in four Boulder neighborhoods to develop biodiverse native gardens. These gardens serve a dual purpose: beautifying neighborhoods and functioning as living ecological monitoring stations that track how climate change is reshaping local ecosystems over time.

Juniper Replacement Program

Shrub-form junipers pose significant wildfire risk due to their high flammability and tendency to cast wind-borne embers. The city is partnering with small local contractors and community members to remove and replace these hazard junipers with biodiverse native plantings that enhance both the safety and ecological health of neighborhoods in the Wildland Urban Interface.