DENVER — The Colorado Department of Natural Resources shared it will award millions of dollars in grants to prepare and prevent wildfires.
The Colorado Strategic Wildfire Action Program was established by the Colorado legislature after the devastating 2020 fire season.
This year, $6.9 million will be distributed for 24 projects across the state, the most in the program's history.
"These are going to be used for wildfire mitigation projects throughout the state, as well as training for workforce development for those people trying to move into forestry or wildfire mitigation fields," Courtney Young, with the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, said.
Part of the reason is the state changed the cadence of when it gives out certain grants.
"We're alternating years, which allows us to to allocate more funding to each grant individually every other year. So that's one reason that more funding was available," Young said. "Also just the ask and the need is increasing."
Young said she saw a record high ask for help for just over $13 million.
Part of the reason, is because local leaders are hearing from the community that they want to be prepared and take action now.
"We can't influence if it rains or not, if there's going to be a lightning storm or not," Young said. "But people really want to be prepared, and so this funding allows people to prepare their communities."
Some of the money will be used for things like mitigation work and planning evacuation routes.The other part will be used to support a workforce pipeline into forestry and wildfire mitigation. The state said that's important because the work force in this space is aging.
"Right now the workforce is aging," Young said. "It's really important to get new people interested and experience and moving into those positions that are going to be really important in the coming decades."
The funding will also support the Department of Corrections Inmate Wildland Fire Team created in 2021. This allows eligible people who are incarcerated to help fight wildfires and do mitigation work.
