Community Connections - 2024-25 (English) - 11

Wildfire Partners
Mitigation Program
With funding from the county's wildfire
mitigation tax, Boulder County's wildfire mitigation
program, called Wildfire Partners, helps
residents and communities take climate action
and prepare for future wildfires. Learn more at
WildfirePartners.org.
* The county's Strategic Fuels Mitigation Grant
program is funding 13 additional projects totaling
$1.5 million. This funding will leverage another
$2.94 million of " matching " contributions,
bringing total project costs to $4.37 million.
* Wildfire Partners Community Chipping Program
provides free branch chipping services for all
residents in Boulder County. In 2023, Wildfire
Partners hosted 53 events with 473 participants.
* Wildfire Partners works with TEENS, Inc.
and Mile High Youth Corps to provide free
mitigation services to vulnerable individuals
and communities. In 2023, a TEENS, Inc. crew
of 12 members, ages 14-18, helped several
residents perform critical tasks, such as removing
hazardous junipers, raking pine needles, and
creating noncombustible, gravel perimeters
around homes.
* Wildfire Partners home assessment and
certification program in western Boulder County
provides homeowners with technical and
financial assistance to reduce their wildfire risk.
Homeowners can use their Wildfire Partners
Certificate to help retain or obtain insurance.
One case involved a senior with low income who
was given 60 days by her insurance company to
complete mitigation in order to keep her policy.
Wildfire Partners conducted an assessment,
provided her a list of forestry contractors, and
paid for 100% of the cost of her forestry work
because of her income status. The resident
completed the required mitigation, received her
certificate two weeks after her initial visit, and
was able to retain her insurance.
* With mitigation tax funding, Louisville and Superior
conducted goat grazing to reduce tall grasses in
western-facing open space areas near homes.
O
n a rugged hillside next to Gold Hill's
Sacred Mountain Ashram, Boulder Mushroom
and the Boulder Watershed Collective
are testing a unique approach to wildfire mitigation
with mushrooms. Funded by Boulder County's
Climate Innovation Fund, this project is using native
fungi to speed up the decomposition of wood waste
from wildfire prevention efforts, turning it into nutrient-rich
compost while cutting fire risk by breaking
down potential fuel. " When we inoculate slash piles
with fungal mycelium, they break down at least three
times faster than their non-inoculated counterparts, "
said Zach Hedstrom, the leading mycologist.
This approach also reduces the need for heavy
transport to haul and process waste wood. Moreover,
fungi can access remote, hard-to-reach areas
where mechanical removal would be impractical. As
Hedstrom and his team deploy their spore-infused
solutions across the Western landscape, big tech
and global media are paying attention. Hedstrom
has been interviewed twice by the BBC and The
Times of London, and his work was profiled in The
Washington Post. What captivates people around
the world is the potential for a future where working
with nature can transform vast landscapes to reduce
climate pollution and fire risk. In a world all too often
darkened by smoke, these humble fungi illuminate a
path forward, gently reminding us that even in decay
lies the promise of renewal - a vision of a future
where the air is clear and the earth is rich.
11
Preventing Wildfire
with Mushrooms
http://www.WildfirePartners.org
Community Connections - 2024-25 (English)

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