Wildfire Ready Projects in Boulder

• Tram Hill Project: The Colorado Department of Natural Resources’ Colorado Strategic Wildfire Action Program awarded the City of Boulder a $900,000 grant toward a fuel reduction project on Tram Hill, a city-owned property west of Boulder. The project will: Protect critical drinking water, hydroelectric and electrical infrastructure. | Increase first responder access in the event of a wildfire. | Help to reduce wildfire spread and severity. Learn more on the project webpage. There is also an upcoming public meeting.

• Prescribed Burning: Due to warm and dry winter conditions, prescribed burning opportunities in Spring 2026 are expected to be limited. Current prescribed fire planning is focused on areas west of 93 and south of Eldorado Springs Drive, and water conveyance (ditches) and agricultural burns in various locations east of the city. Future prescribed fire plans will incorporate risk reduction goals in the Wildland Urban Interface.
• Targeted Grazing west of Boulder (Spring-Fall 2026): In 2026, the city is planning to expand and refine strategic grazing projects to reduce risk in high priority areas west of the City of Boulder, building from pilot wildfire mitigation grazing projects in 2025. This year, areas will include the grass-dominant Wildland Urban Interface areas west of Green Mountain Memorial Park Cemetery, west of Chautauqua, west of 3^rd St and between Mapleton Ave and Linden Ave, areas around Wonderland Lake, and areas west of the Northbriar community and south of Lee Hill Dr.
• Targeted Grazing in south Boulder (Spring-Summer 2026): Targeted grazing across 500 acres in south Boulder is continuing with an annual treatment to control invasive grasses and mitigate wildfire hazards. This project has shown grazing to be a highly cost-effective way to reduce invasive vegetation and mitigate fuel loads that can contribute to grassfires and has helped to inform additional wildfire mitigation projects that use grazing as management technique in grass-dominant Wildland Urban Interface areas. 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.
• Perimeter Mowing Program (Summer-Fall 2026): 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, building 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.
  

• Wonderland Lake (2025-2028): Open Space and Mountain Parks, Boulder Parks and Recreation, and Boulder Fire Rescue have collaborated in developing a cross-boundary fuels management project adjacent to communities in the Wonderland Lake area. This project is being combined with coordinated action across private parcels and HOA common areas, addressing vegetation management and home hardening priorities. The City was awarded a $200,000 grant from Boulder County to experiment with this novel approach to comprehensive wildfire mitigation.
• Sans Souci (2026): The City of Boulder continues its partnership with Boulder County and local non-profit partners in developing a phased wildfire mitigation project in the Sans Souci Mobile Home Park, which is south of the city of Boulder and adjacent to city-managed land.
• Shanahan Ridge (2026): Project plans to implement tree thinning and grass management across city-managed land and private lands managed by HOAs in the Shanahan Ridge are being developed.

The City of Boulder is interested in ways to engage with communities to address shared fuel hazards on city lands and private lands. For more information about cross-boundary fuels management, contact dennisonp@bouldercolorado.gov.

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.

Timely, coordinated outreach and notifications on wildfire resilience.

• Anchor Point: The city's wildfire resilience newsletter and program announcement emails.
• Prescribed Fire Emails: Sign up to receive emails about upcoming prescribed burns and smoke education.
• Signage: Our fire-related signage portfolio is one important strategy/tool of a comprehensive communications strategy. There are roughly 300 signs posted throughout the Open Space system that convey No Fire or No Smoking messaging. There is standardized NO FIRE and NO SMOKING signage at 110+ trailhead and access points on the OSMP system. All trailhead kiosks have No Smoking and No Fires regulatory icons that share space with the trailhead map, list of rules and regulations (including fire regulations). There are also large “Prevent Wildland Fire!” signs with the 4 Fire symbols prominently displayed at other strategic and heavily trafficked trail heads and areas.

This includes budget management, grant seeking, program administration, partnerships and metrics. The Wildfire core and executive teams meet monthly to administer and manage programs related to wildfire resilience within the city.

Information on risk modeling, wildfire behavior analysis, and geospatial data support.

More information coming soon.

Community engagement and inclusive education opportunities will be listed below. The Wildfire Ready initiative of the city is also available to table at events pending resources, please reach out to Jamie Barker, barkerj@bouldercolorado.gov for more information.

• Wildfire Resilience Landscape Contractor Training
• Earth Day Community Storytelling Night