Fire has shaped life on Earth for eons, yet the big burns happening today are unlike anything experienced by modern civilization. A veritable explosion of destructive wildfires afflicts much of the world and especially the U.S. West. They overwhelm firefighting capabilities, ravage communities, and sully the environment. Blame drought, houses built in flammable wildlands, 150 years of fire suppression practices, and climate change.

Locally, look no further than the Marshall fire that killed two people, destroyed more than 1,000 homes, and displaced thousands of residents near Boulder in 2021. The Cameron Peak fire, which started in backcountry wilderness, blanketed Fort Collins in choking orange smoke in 2020 and dumped tons of sooty sediment into the Cache la Poudre River, Colorado’s only designated wild and scenic river. Smoke harmed respiratory health and polluted water affected deliveries as fisheries suffered. A debris flow killed two people in the Poudre River canyon.

Infographic image that shows the following information: Wildfires Burned 68 Million Acres in a Decade / Acres burned by wildfires in the U.S. (1960-2019) / 1960s - 45,717,542 / 1970s - 31,944,207 / 1980s - 29,828,347 / 1990s - 33,235,581 / 2000s - 61,215,391 / 2010s - 68,468,574
Acreage burned at nearly twice the rate in the past 20 years compared to the previous 40 years in the United States. Drought, climate change, population growth, and past fire suppression practices contribute to the trend. Source: National Interagency Fire Center.

Communities are trying to respond to changing conditions, but the hazard outpaces efforts. Everyone wants to find ways to reduce risk and recover quickly from wildfires – in effect, become better prepared and more resilient to disaster – but the challenge is so daunting, it’s difficult to know where to begin. What does the solution look like? How do we get there? How can measures be adapted to various communities and conditions? The problem is magnified because government policy increasingly calls for local community leaders and residents to work with natural resources managers to build resilience into ecosystems and communities.

Enter the Colorado Forest Restoration Institute, an applied research and Extension-based stakeholder engagement program in the Department of Forest and Rangeland Stewardship at CSU. It was established by Congress and joined by institutes at New Mexico Highlands and Northern Arizona universities. It is a problem-solver at the nexus of community need, fire management, and natural resources stewardship. It helps communities cope with wildfires by using science-based tools that produce practical information useful to first responders, land managers, and their community partners.

Here’s how it works.

First, we create a detailed rendering of the landscape, including important infrastructure, using geographic information system maps that include roads, bridges, rivers, ridges, and more. We call the images “potential operational delineations,” and they are useful to model where a fire might ignite, how it might behave, a blaze’s intensity, and how hard it will be to knock it down. The tool was developed by scientists with the U.S. Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station and further refined with contributions from the forest restoration institute researchers.

Next, institute researchers gather key stakeholders to explain the maps, gain their understanding of fire and land-use history in the area, and hold workshops to discuss where and how different wildfire control approaches might be used to protect people, property, and natural resources. This technique was used to good effect during the Cameron Peak fire.

Finally, the institute uses the information and feedback to help identify the resources and assets needed to prepare for a blaze – and also recover afterward. This process, which they call “risk assessment decision support,” helps people identify assets at risk, measures to prevent harm, and ways to bounce back after disaster. The institute also monitors outcomes, based on data from the field and socioeconomic methods, to gain lessons learned and improve the process. In this way, the institute ensures that continuous learning and adaptions occur.

It’s a highly collaborative process based on sound science, community relations, and practical solutions. It works because local communities have a seat at the table and access to information and can participate in decisions that affect their lives and community. The institute uses its neutral position at CSU to traverse ownership and jurisdictional boundaries, thereby breaking down barriers that oftentimes prevent different agencies from working together on strategic wildfire management planning. Social science research on collective decision-making consistently shows that when participants in the process are involved in decision-making, they are more likely to support the resulting decisions than if decisions were made unilaterally by a government entity. They become vested in outcomes and are more likely to take part in implementing actions. An example of this is the development of Chaffee County’s Community Wildfire Protection Plan. Led by Warner College of Natural Resources distinguished alumnus, Cindy Williams (B.S., geology, ’89; M.S., geology, ’92), the institute participated in a community-based leadership group in Chaffee County to apply the process to prioritize “bang for the buck” actions to mitigate wildfire risks to high-value assets. To date, more than $22 million in funds have helped reduce flammable vegetation on more than 6,000 acres.

These techniques have proven particularly effective at helping land managers identify areas and conditions where more “good” fire can occur. These are intentional burns of low-intensity, limited size, and strategic location to disperse the potential energy of inevitable future wildfires. Land managers prescribe areas to burn under predetermined conditions – so-called prescribed fires. It’s a way communities choose the places and conditions under which fire can occur rather than be at the whim of natural forces; the former increases wildfire resilience, while the latter does not.

A firefighter stands in a forest while holding a torch as dry brush burns in front of them.
Larimer County Sheriff’s Office firefighter Quinn de la Haye uses a drip torch to ignite unburned fuel to protect structures from the East Troublesome fire in Rocky Mountain National Park. Credit: William A. Cotton, CSU Photography

And the use of the mapping tools helps guide prescribed fires so flames do little harm while achieving benefits for nature. This is how communities can predict where fires are likely to ignite and spread and how fires may either positively or negatively impact communities’ best assets and resources. A positive effect, for example, is where fire is needed to restore or rejuvenate habitat and food sources for a diversity of pollinators, birds, and animals. Indeed, many of nature’s services valued by humans need fire. Negative impacts include destruction of homes, power lines, water intake facilities, and other built infrastructure critical to the functional well-being of communities. With clarity about locations and mitigation measures, jurisdictions have a clear idea of who is responsible to take what actions and the costs of those actions in order to acquire and allocate adequate funds. This ensures fire management produces the biggest bang for the buck.

Work to increase wildfire resilience embodies CSU’s land-grant mission and helps democratize science for community benefits.

In sum, the institute’s work to increase wildfire resilience embodies CSU’s land-grant mission and helps democratize science for community benefits. We take scientific research knowledge and products out of the lab and put them into the hands of people who need to act. Through these analytical platforms and collaborative learning processes, we distill the complexity of wildfire resilience into actionable components. This gives local people a sense of control over what can seem like a daunting challenge.

The institute also provides employment opportunities for CSU students to extend their classroom learning through field-based ecological monitoring programs. Students gain technical skills and experience working independently and in teams and have opportunities to participate in research projects with institute faculty and research staff. Building the competence and confidence of the next generation of natural resource stewards to tackle the effects of climate change on wildfires is yet another way in which the institute is contributing to enhancing the resilience of communities and ecosystems in Colorado and beyond.

Tony Cheng is a professor in the Department of Forest and Rangeland Stewardship with a partial Extension appointment. He is also director of the Colorado Forest Restoration Institute and principal of the Southern Rockies Fire Science Network.
Illustration credit: Wendy Brookshire, CSU Marketing & Brand Management