Celebrating 40 years of partnership with the Colorado State Forest Service
Denver Water and the Colorado State Forest Service are celebrating 40 years of working together.
Denver Water is the largest municipal water supplier in Colorado, and the organization is also the state’s third-largest public landowner, which is why it sought out the expertise of the Colorado State Forest Service, often referred to as CSFS, to manage its forested lands.
“While our primary mission is to deliver safe, clean drinking water to our customers, we also take great pride in being good stewards of the land that we own,” said Madelene McDonald, a watershed scientist at Denver Water.
The partnership began in 1985 during the outbreak of the mountain pine beetle, which impacted forests across Colorado. The devastation reached Denver Water properties as well, with large portions of the utility’s properties covered in beetle-killed trees. The outbreak and concerns about growing tree mortality ultimately led to the utility enlisting the help of the State Forest Service.
“The Colorado State Forest Service works with communities and landowners just like Denver Water,” said Weston Toll, watershed program specialist for the Colorado State Forest Service. “Our job is to assess their property and then provide technical forestry assistance and expertise.”
Toll said the agency’s forest treatments range from fire mitigation projects to planting trees after a fire that help landscapes recover. CSFS also creates long-term forest management plans for Denver Water's properties.
“Denver Water understands that it's a matter of when, not if, a wildfire will occur in their forested watersheds,” said Matt McCombs, director of the Colorado State Forest Service. “They’re aces at being proactive and engaging leaders who bring together partners like the Colorado State Forest Service and others to leverage our strengths and resources to address wildfire risks at scale and across boundaries.”
Protecting critical infrastructure from fires
The primary role of the partnership is to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires to Denver Water’s critical infrastructure, which could impact the utility’s ability to deliver water to 1.5 million people in the metro area.
“Here at Denver Water, we've experienced impacts to our operations due to high-intensity wildfires like the Hayman and Buffalo Creek fires,” said Jessica Jackman, a watershed scientist at Denver Water. “Over the last 40 years, the Colorado State Forest Service has treated thousands of acres of our property across nine counties to protect our infrastructure.”
“At Denver Water, we consider forests and watersheds to be part of our natural infrastructure,” said Alan Salazar, Denver Water’s CEO/Manager. “So just like a water main in the city or a large dam in the mountains, we have to invest in maintaining the forests to make sure our watersheds are healthy and resilient.”
Hayman Wildfire
Denver Water and the CSFS’s partnership has been effective at protecting critical infrastructure and altering high-intensity wildfire behavior. The partners completed impactful forest restoration work around Cheesman Reservoir before and after the massive Hayman Fire in 2002.
“Before the Hayman Fire, the Colorado State Forest Service removed some trees to thin the forest around the reservoir,” said Kristin Garrison, an associate director of forest planning with the Colorado State Forest Service who has worked on Denver Water properties for decades. “The work was done to protect the only access road going to the reservoir and several buildings used by Denver Water.”
The proactive work proved successful and was estimated to have saved nearly $400,000 worth of critical infrastructure around the reservoir.
Denver Water used lessons from this experience to develop its From Forests to Faucets partnership, which is a forest health and source water protection partnership between Denver Water, the U.S. Forest Service, the Colorado State Forest Service, the Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Colorado Forest Restoration Institute.
After the fire, the Colorado State Forest Service sent out teams to build structures to reduce the flow of sediment into the reservoir from the burn scar and planted over 300,000 trees on Denver Water property. The new trees serve as a seed source to promote new growth that will continue to help stabilize the hillsides and reduce the flow of sediment into the reservoir after rainstorms.
The work continues
Another example of a partnership project included treating 276 acres of forest on Denver Water’s Wagner Ranch and Skunk Creek properties west of Fraser in Grand County.
The work involved cutting down trees and brush to reduce the amount of vegetation available to serve as fuel for a large wildfire. The large swathes of open areas also serve as safe places for firefighters to make a stand to fight off fires and protect nearby homes and infrastructure.
The two agencies meet regularly to discuss forest management projects and plans across nine counties where Denver Water owns property. The projects help protect Denver Water’s people, pipes, buildings, dams and canals in the mountains, while also protecting watersheds and communities from large, high-intensity wildfires.
“My hope for the future is that we continue to be a key partner, ensuring a reliable flow of water for Colorado and for Denver Water customers,” McCombs said. “The Colorado State Forest Service has been a Denver Water partner for 40 years, and I look forward to another 40 years of working together in our most critical watersheds all across the state.”
“I want to thank the Colorado State Forest Service for the 40-year partnership we've had with them,” Salazar said. “We couldn't do our job without them and I'm very grateful for their expertise and their dedication to keeping our watersheds safe and healthy and protecting the people of our state.”