Wildfire Ready Projects in Boulder

• Bison Drive-Kossler Forest Thinning (April – November): The Bison-Kossler forest thinning project on Flagstaff Mountain is a joint effort between the city’s Open Space and Mountain Parks and Utilities departments. The work is directly upwind from the city and is designed to improve forest habitat health and function while protecting drinking water infrastructure, hydroelectric generation facility infrastructure, and two key Xcel Energy powerlines. Addressing dense forest conditions in this area will build upon previous forest treatments, facilitate first responder access and emergency egress, and minimize the potential for fire spread into Boulder while improving overall forest health. This project will cover about 90 acres.
• Shanahan Ridge Forest Thinning (April – August): This forest health and fire mitigation project in the Shanahan Ridge area in south Boulder will focus on creating larger meadows and removing patches of small to medium diameter trees. Open forest conditions support more diverse vegetation communities, provide habitat for a wide variety of wildlife, and will reduce fuels adjacent to powerlines. This project will cover roughly 40 acres.
• Sanitas Valley Forest Thinning (June – August): The Sanitas Valley thinning project is located adjacent to the western edge of the city and involves removing some small to medium diameter trees along Dakota Ridge and limbing trees adjacent to the Sanitas Valley trail. The effort will reduce overall canopy cover along portions of the hogback and reduce ladder fuels adjacent to the trail, enhancing natural fuel breaks in the area. The project will cover about 25 acres.
• Flagstaff Road Forest Thinning (April – June): The Flagstaff Road thinning is located around OSMP infrastructure, including the Top Shop maintenance building, and in the Flagstaff Road corridor. The treatment prescription will focus on improving defensible space around the structure and decreasing fuel loads adjacent to the road. This will improve the road as a holding feature in the event of a wildfire and will build on past work that's been done up and down Flagstaff Rd to improve emergency egress in the area. This project covers about 20 acres.

• Prescribed Burning
• Agricultural Ditch Burning
• Pilot Grazing Program in north Boulder (Summer 2025): Long-term grazing in south Boulder on Shannahan Ridge has shown it to be a highly cost-effective way to reduce invasive weeds that can fuel grassfires. Observations and monitoring following the NCAR Fire in 2022 indicated this practice—when combined with rapid emergency response and other mitigation work—helped slow the fire's spread and reduce its intensity. This summer, the city is planning to apply this land management technique in on-city managed open space in north Boulder – near the Wonderland Lake and Dakota Ridge neighborhoods.
• Perimeter Mowing Program (Summer 2025): The city continues its pilot program (started in 2024) to reduce community wildfire risks by mowing a 30-foot strip of open space adjacent to targeted neighborhoods. Mowing is planned twice this year next to the Dakota Ridge, Wonderland Lake, Chautauqua, and Devil’s Thumb/Shanahan Ridge neighborhoods. These specific locations were selected based on factors including wildfire risk mapping, ecological data, structure density, and home proximity to city-managed open space. Planned mowing aims to reduce grass height to 4-6 inches and will occur in June/July and again in September/October.

The City of Boulder has many qualified wildland firefighters within both Boulder Fire-Rescue and the department of Open Space and Mountain Parks. The city has a dedicated wildland division with specialist who consider wildfire behavior, daily conditions, city and regional resources, as well as who staff up on high risk days.

Implementing short- and longer-term efforts related to fire ignition prevention through education, enforcement, and infrastructure improvements, and accelerating the city’s early ignition detection efforts.

City of Boulder Police and Open Space and Mountain Parks Rangers actively patrols areas where illegal campfires and other ignition sources are more likely to be found.

The city also has strict fire regulations that are in effect year round.

Developing a tactical fire response plan focused on wildland fire escalation. Addressing response operations, including staffing capacity, wildland fire vehicles, and response equipment. The city has approved the purchase of a new wildland-specific fire truck for 2025 in support of improving its wildfire response.