Upper South Platte Watershed Protection and Restoration Project (USPWRPP)

The South Platte Watershed, located southwest of Denver, supplies 70% of Denver’s water and is a major recreational attraction. The Upper South Platte Watershed Protection and Restoration Project encompasses 640,000 acres southwest of Denver, and includes 525,000 acres in the USFS Pike and San Isabel National Forests, 100,000 acres of private lands, 16,000 acres owned by Denver Water, and 4,000 acres managed by State Forestry. There are 13 watersheds in the project area. In 1996 the Buffalo Creek Fire burned 11,900 acres of this watershed, destroyed 12 homes and created erosion in the granitic soils common to this area. Heavy rains in the months that followed resulted in flooding and additional damage to property and infrastructure in the region. The Upper South Platte Watershed Protection and Restoration Project was initiated in August 1998 as a response to these threats.

The Project is a comprehensive watershed-level restoration effort involving public and private ownership. The Core Team consists of CSFS and USFS employees, each working on and coordinating their own projects. Since the Project began in 1998, CSFS has completed treatment on approximately 5,000 acres, while USFS has completed treatment on 815 acres. It has been easier to get work done on Denver Water lands, which CSFS oversees, because there are fewer constraints with environmental planning and purchasing and bidding systems than are found when working on USFS lands.

The 17,000 acre treatment area is estimated to take 5-6 years and $12,000,000 to complete. Ideally the USFS and CSFS will bring back the pre-settlement characteristics and introduce fire back into the ecosystem. The treatment prescription is to a historic vegetative state. They are creating openings on 25-30% of the land, promoting pond pine stands, 20% old growth stands and 20% Douglas fir and ponderosa pine stands. In the South Platte Project area they are cutting trees up to 10-11 diameter and will maintain areas with summer burning. Each agency retains the final decision making authority for their land. Initially CSFS and USFS tried to share information through a steering committee, but since the Hayman Fire in 2002 they have not met on a regular basis..

Denver Water and Private Land Treatments

Colorado State Forest Service is also working on portions of the Upper South Platte Project. They have two primary areas in which they are working-Lower Elk Creek and Denver Water lands. The Lower Elk Creek project has treated 376 acres of fuelbreaks, defensible spaces and thinning since it began in 2000. Fuelbreaks have been created on 170 acres, while 61 defensible spaces have been created on homeowner property. CSFS also has worked closely with Denver Water to complete 5,000 acres of thinning and 24 acres of prescribed burning around Cheesman Reservoir and Trumbull area, which is credited with saving the structures during the 2002 fires.

There is one Good Neighbor Agreement on the South Platte Project with more being planned. South of Deckers is a small one-six acres that protects houses. Good Neighbor Agreements allow CSFS to contract out work while the USFS pays for it. CSFS is getting ready to sign off on a broader Good Neighbor Agreement at a watershed scale. CSFS will take on the responsibility for implementation up to one half mile outside of private lands in this watershed area.

Lower Elk Creek

CSFS has carved out the roughly 12,000-acre Lower Elk Creek management unit, which is all state and private land, no USFS land. Work began on the Lower Elk Creek in 2000. The purpose of the project is to get private landowner's to mitigate through a defensible space cost-share program and to do fuel breaks on private land. The area is not comprised of established communities, rather it is a handful of subdivisions and stand-alone homes on different size lots ranging from 1-20+ acres. CSFS holds meetings with homeowners and neighborhood associations, and structures community meetings to talk about fire mitigation. During 2000, CSFS conducted eleven presentations to local groups, including the Kiwanis and Rotary, and wrote monthly articles for local newspapers and magazines. Free sites visits were made to the 100 Lower Elk Creek landowners that had more than 20 acres of land. Presentations to local middle and high schools were conducted with letters going to parents about wildfire mitigation.

The Lower Elk Creek project began in June 2000 and as of December 2002 CSFS had treated 376 acres, about 150 acres per year, at a cost of $410,000. Approximately 90 homes have created defensible space for about 120 total acres, five projects were fuel breaks for about 200 acres total, and 50 acres of thinning. Defensible space costs ranged from $350 to $4,000, depending on the lot size, tree density, slope and access.

Denver Water Lands

CSFS also has worked closely with Denver Water and treated 5,000 acres of thinning and prescribed burning around Cheesman Reservoir and Trumbull area, which was credited with saving the structures during the 2002 fires. CSFS has created a 100-acre demo site within the 5,000 acre treatment area for educational purposes. The site is located near roads and includes descriptive signs and an interpretive trail for the public. On this site they removed 60-70% of the trees and reduced basal areas from 80 to 48. The 100 acres is divided into two sites-60 and 40 acres. In 1999-2000 they did 60 acres where they used traditional logging with a chainsaw, rubber tire skidder and lop and scatter slash up to 18 inches. Now there is an open timber stand, with high canopy, leaving old trees. In April 2002 CSFS treated 40 acres using a hydroaxe and cat. On the abutting USFS lands, USFS treated 800 acres.