Recommended Actions
This page organizes Eagle County’s wildfire resilience work into clear categories. Expand any strategy to see the specific recommended actions.
Reduction of Structural Ignitability & Infrastructure Protection
STRATEGIES & RECOMMENDED ACTIONS:
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Recommended Actions:
Develop and adopt a unified WUI Code across all jurisdictions in Eagle County.
Improve land-use planning and zoning laws to incorporate best building and zoning practices to reduce structural ignitability in future development.
Modify planning and design guidelines for existing developments to account for increasing wildfire risk.
Build and maintain structures and their surrounding vegetation in a manner that resists ignition from wildfire or when ignited does not rapidly spread the fire.
Integrate wildfire risk reduction and planning efforts with other Towns, County and federal environmental and sustainability planning goals and activities.
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Recommended Actions:
Adopt policies that require currently above ground utilities to be undergrounded and new utilities to be buried to increase safety, improve reliability, and increase system resilience.
Improve rural broadband to provide internet access to rural areas for wildfire evacuation, communication, and education/outreach.
Explore opportunities to install early wildfire detection systems on new and existing infrastructure.
Improve transmission line safety with larger line clearance, better slash management, and ignition resistant equipment.
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Recommended Actions:
Encourage HOA’s to participate in the FireWise USA program.
Encourage motivated individuals to participate in the Neighborhood Ambassador program.
Ensure all community codes and ordinances are consistent with current best practices for reduction of structural ignitability.
Improve the public’s understanding of our existing community fire protection infrastructure and limitations.
Utilize FAC Pathways tool to classify community archetypes and identify potential strategies best suited for each community.
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Recommended Actions:
• Obtain geospatial data on critical infrastructure (bridges, culverts, facilities, signs, etc.) and identify vulnerability to wildfire impacts, including post-fire sediment and debris flows.
• Coordinate with law enforcement and CDOT to mitigate impacts of long-term disruptions and closures to major highways and Interstate-70.
• Implement traffic management plans across multiple jurisdictions in order to maintain interstate commerce during wildfire disruptions.
• Support the development of alternative transportation routes through critical choke points such as Glenwood Canyon and Dowd Junction.
Community Preparedness for Wildfire
STRATEGIES & RECOMMENDED ACTIONS:
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Recommended Actions:
• Make sure community and individual assets are insured against catastrophic wildfire.
• Ensure the community has appropriate emergency response and community support resources for wildfire.
• Host neighborhood events specific to emergency response, education, and preparedness.
• Support local governmental organizations in developing and/or updating continuity of operations plans (COOP). Organizations should consider impacts of significant structure loss including facility and infrastructure damage.
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Recommended Actions:
• Develop a County-level emergency fund that displaced populations can utilize in case of emergencies.
• Ensure that displaced renters, not just homeowners, are protected and supported in a post-fire economy.
• Expand access housing and childcare for first responders and response and recovery partners.
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Recommended Actions:
• Create and deploy an education campaign to help people understand what to do when wildfires reduce local air quality (use neighborhoods as units of change).
• Identify and communicate the location of Community Clean Air Spaces/Smoke Shelters when smoke levels become hazardous.
• Make portable air filters available to vulnerable populations.
• Develop materials that accurately portray Eagle County’s air quality during smoke impacts.
• Utilize air quality monitoring and public reporting systems like Air Now and Purple Air.
• Assess the levels of smoke, particulate matter, and other pollutants during and after wildfires.
• Establish protocols for issuing public health advisories and recommendations to minimize exposure to harmful air pollutants.
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Recommended Actions:
• Promote an integrated marketing strategy that highlights what makes Eagle County worth visiting when wildfires are impacting the area (fire restrictions, smoke, travel disruptions, etc).
• Develop a communications and marketing strategy for post- wildfire tourism.
• Ensure that areas in the County not closed due to wildfire activity can sustain additional use and allocate resources accordingly.
• Coordinate with fire managers to minimize disruptions to air traffic at Eagle County Regional Airport.
• Coordinate with transportation partners to minimize disruptions to local traffic routes and commerce during interstate corridor closures.
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Recommended Actions:
• Develop and cultivate partnerships between local towns, resort businesses, and others to support the expansion of economic opportunities.
• Form stakeholder groups to share unified messaging around wildfire closures, and educate people about why the area is closed (safety, resource benefit, etc.).
• Educate residents and tourists on ways to reduce environmental impacts of consumer decisions.
• Make educational materials available in English and Spanish versions.
• Foster social acceptance of prescribed fire, WUI mitigation, smoke, etc. (pre- and post-wildfire restoration actions as well).
• Encourage HOAs to register with local jurisdictions for communication and coordination purposes.
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Recommended Actions:
• Provide financial support for individuals and businesses impacted by wildfire closures.
• Allow for flexible agency permitting for guides and special events.
• Encourage businesses to develop contingency plans for wildfire disruptions.
• Prioritize health and safety over providing recreation opportunities.
• Develop a local funding mechanism and plan ready to implement (with many stakeholders) and fund long-term restoration projects/communication plans/marketing/other needs.
Emergency response capability and evacuation
STRATEGIES & RECOMMENDED ACTIONS:
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Recommended Actions:
• Strengthen relationships with partner agencies, non- governmental organizations, businesses, community and faith-based organizations, and other stakeholders that can support wildfire mitigation, response and recovery through the Eagle County and Roaring Fork Valley Wildfire Collaboratives.
• Ensure proper fire response resources are in place and funded.
• Gather spatial data around critical habitat areas (including wildlife corridors) to proactively protect these areas and/or provide additional review and mitigation for planned project work.
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Recommended Actions:
• Model and streamline potential evacuation routes, bottlenecks, and evacuation alternatives (i.e. open gates in private communities).
• Ensure evacuation strategies are updated across all jurisdictional evacuation plans prior to an emergency event.
• Educate all residents on evacuation procedures and emergency preparedness in culturally appropriate ways.
• Further develop a robust emergency notification system. Special attention should be given to communication with special populations such as guests, seasonal residents, access and functional needs, non-english speakers and older populations.
• Consider impacts of other priorities (traffic calming, sustainability, less cars, EVs, etc) and changing populations on evacuation
effectiveness. Educate stakeholders on the need to maintain the balance between emergency response and potential competing interests.
• Design fuel treatments to protect primary and secondary evacuation routes.
• Ensure that new development provides for multiple evacuation routes.
Post-fire Planning
STRATEGIES & RECOMMENDED ACTIONS:
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Recommended Actions:
• Develop protocols for proper handling, removal, and disposal of hazardous materials to prevent contamination of soil, air, and water. Protocols should identify who is responsible for oversight of the cleanup.
• Asbestos
• Ash Clean-Up
• Household HAZMAT
• Develop protocols with landfill for disposal of HAZMAT.
• Identify systems that will be used to assess building damage rapidly post fire.
• Develop “how clean is clean” materials based on area and local geological soils and hazardous waste concerns for if hazardous contaminants are a concern and soils testing is needed.
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Recommended Actions:
• Provide ‘Food Safety Salvage Waste’ guidance to impacted populations.
• Provide ‘OWTS and Wells After a Fire’ guidance to impacted populations.
• Drinking Water after a Fire.
• Providing drinking water - bottled water - water trucks availability
• Providing sanitation - portable chemical toilets to communities without water for flushing. Assess availability and who and where this would be available.
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Recommended Actions:
• Identify where infrastructure exists (ski areas, campgrounds, toilets, boat ramps, trails, signs, etc.) and unique vulnerabilities to wildfire.
• Provide robust communication around area wildfire closures and coordinate on redirecting people elsewhere.
• Ensure that areas in the County not closed due to fire activity can sustain additional use and allocate resources accordingly.
• Encourage reimbursement for licenses, campground reservations, etc. due to wildfire impacts.
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Recommended Actions:
• Adopt flexible zoning codes to be implemented during emergencies (i.e. allow mobile homes, tiny homes, campers, and allow high occupancy in places).
• Allow for use of facilities for temporary housing (i.e. campgrounds, fairgrounds, etc.)
• Identify ways to expedite reconstruction (permits, fees, inspections).
• Identify temporary housing deployment zones to be utilized during emergencies.
• Consider how to house construction workers to facilitate more rapid reconstruction.
• Consider the impacts of people not rebuilding due to trauma, cost of reconstruction, being underinsured, and high demand for building supplies. Develop policies around large-scale acquisition of land post- wildfire by domestic and transnational companies, outside interests, and individuals.
Landscape-scale Vegetation Management
STRATEGIES & RECOMMENDED ACTIONS:
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Recommended Actions:
• Maintain or restore forest and vegetative cover in riparian areas.
• Maintain or improve the ability of forests to resist insects and pathogens.
• Prevent invasive plant species and noxious weed establishment by ensuring all materials are “weed-free” and all equipment utilized in projects are clean and free of all plant propagules when entering project areas.
• Enhance species age classes and structural diversity in forests.
• Implement wetland and stream restoration projects, including the use of low technology, process based restoration, to retain moisture and increase resilience of the landscape.
• Formulate a multi-year monitoring plan after fuel mitigation activities to ensure post-treatment invasive plant species and noxious weeds are addressed, erosion is mitigated, and vegetative succession and species composition provides productive forage and cover, including revegetation activities.
• Hold quarterly meeting(s) with stakeholders through the ECWC Natural Resource working groups to review program and project goals, funding strategies, implementation strategies, after action reviews and environmental monitoring.
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Recommended Actions:
• Create heterogeneous landscapes that promote diversity of species, ages and condition classes.
• Alter forest structure or composition to reduce risk or severity of wildfires through mitigation actions such as forest thinning, mastication, etc.
• Establish and maintain landscape scale fuel-breaks to increase the likelihood of containing fires within identified Potential Operational Delineations (PODS). Treatments should be designed to be effective under 97th percentile fuel and weather conditions. Create compartmentalization across the planning area where unplanned wildfire can be managed for suppression action and/or multiple resource benefits when appropriate.
• Strengthen identified Potential Operational Delineations (PODS) boundaries to improve likelihood of success containing fires within PODS.
• Promote the use of prescribed fire when appropriate on public and private lands to mimic natural disturbances to fire dependent ecosystems.
• Utilize livestock grazing as a tool for fuel reduction when appropriate.
• Increase social and political acceptance through education and success stories to increase acceptance that wildfire is a natural and integral part of the landscape.
• Reduce regulatory barriers and increase efficiency by conducting interagency planning at landscape levels with local stakeholders.
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Recommended Actions:
• Support efforts to maintain and improve soil health on private and public lands.
• Match management practices to water supply and
demand.
• Provide financial support to help manage invasive species and noxious weeds on production agricultural lands pre- and post-wildfire.
• Allow for flexible agency permitting for grazing allotments impacted by wildfire.
• Match infrastructure and equipment to new and expected conditions.
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Recommended Actions:
• Cultivate partnerships with organizations focused on enhancing wildlife and ecosystem health.
• Plan, fund, and implement wildlife habitat restoration projects, especially in riparian zones.
• Gather spatial data around critical habitat areas (including wildlife corridors) to proactively protect these areas and/or provide additional review and mitigation for planned project work.
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Recommended Actions:
• Evaluate burned areas promptly and revegetate high severity burn areas after wildfire disturbance to improve soil health and prevent erosion.
• Ensure that post fire Burn Area Emergency Response (BAER) evaluations cover all burned areas, not just federally managed lands.
• Allow for areas of natural regeneration to test for future-adapted species.
• Realign significantly disrupted ecosystems to meet expected future conditions.
• Identify what stakeholders are responsible for monitoring and define metrics for success.
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Recommended Actions:
• Coordinate source water protection planning and implementation efforts across Eagle County.
• Identify and prepare watersheds and infrastructure that are at risk from post fire flooding and debris flow.
• Manage systems to cope with decreased water levels and limited water availability.
• Adjust systems to cope with increased water abundance, and high water levels.
• Respond to or prepare for excessive overland flows (surface runoff).
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Recommended Actions:
• Provide training to personnel implementing projects on key wildlife species biology, habitat requirements, and identification of areas utilized locally.
• Consult with CPW staff regarding possible timing and/or spatial restrictions in wildlife habitat. Refer to the CPW Land Use Recommendations Table for spatial and timing restrictions according to applicable terrestrial and aquatic species.
• Utilize CPW Species Activity Mapping or the Eagle County Wildlife Interactive Map to help identify which species and what type of habitat is relevant to the specific project.
• Refer to the local District Wildlife Manager to conduct site visits and discuss individual site specific concerns.
• Prioritize areas identified for mitigation projects that are also in need of habitat enhancement.
• Expand treatments when possible to enhance larger areas of habitat that are not in a productive phase of succession
• Whenever possible, execute treatments, including fuel breaks, in a manner that results in a natural mosaic pattern that retains an appropriate balance of foraging area and cover, as well as maintains a composition of plant species that are favorable for deer and elk forage.
