Tracy Ross
Reporter
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For the first time in years, Coloradans across much of the state can worry a little less about the potential for summer wildfires, according to a Wildfire Preparedness Plan the Colorado Department of Wildfire and Control released in April.
It says current forecasts indicate normal fire potential is expected from now through July, except for southwestern Colorado, which will likely be above normal due to the continued drought and expected hot, dry weather before the monsoon develops.
That’s great news for everyone outside of southwestern Colorado. But what if you live in Archuleta, Dolores, La Plata, Montezuma or San Juan counties? Or what if the weather shifts and the part of the state you live in starts racking up red flag warning days?
It’s a question on many lawmakers’ minds, thanks to the federal funds slashing that’s been going on since President Donald Trump started his second term. His new Department of Government Efficiency has cut thousands of U.S. Forest Service jobs, including 150 in Colorado, held by people who help manage more than 24 million acres of public lands and are key to preventing blazes and making the work of wildland firefighters easier.
Twice now, U.S. lawmakers including Sens. John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennet have asked the White House to reinstate those workers. On Friday, Hickenlooper’s office said they have not heard from the White House regarding their requests.
Preventing and suppressing fire
That makes the work of an army of largely unseen people earning on average $500 a week more important than ever, not only for fire prevention and suppression but for trail construction and maintenance, fence construction and removal, invasive species treatment and eradication, energy and water conservation, and historic preservation on Colorado’s 23 million-plus acres of public lands, which 73% of Coloradans recreate on once a week, according to Colorado’s Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan released in December.
They’re members of the federal agency for national service and volunteerism, AmeriCorps, working for eight land conservation service corps across the state that partner with local and federal agencies on wildfire mitigation, suppression and related work like rebuilding trails in areas flooded after burns.
Between 2020 and 2024, 3,025 fires burned 780,000 acres across Colorado, leaving “a tragic legacy of ensuing floods due to damaged soil and incinerated stabilizing vegetation,” said Scott Segerstrom, executive director of the Colorado Youth Corps Association, which oversees the two largest AmeriCorps grants in Colorado totaling $6.4 million.
The Mile High Youth Corps land conservation crew assists federal and state agencies like the U.S. Forest Service and Colorado Parks and Wildlife. Alison Lerch, from the Department of Natural Resources, says they provide “added capacity and hands-on work for trail building, land reclamation and wildfire risk reduction.” (Courtesy of Mile High Youth Corps)Since 2006, Colorado has faced eight disaster-level flooding events, and the Colorado State Forest Service has identified 591 miles of trail within the highest danger flood zones.
But the various conservation service corps — composed mainly of 16- to 25-year-olds — have been working, without fanfare, to make Colorado’s natural spaces safer. Every year, the conservation service corps’ partnering agencies certify 350 chainsaw operators capable of performing critical forest-thinning to prevent megafires from starting, Segerstrom said.
Another 150 corpsmembers are certified as wildland firefighters. And the corps helps mitigate the impacts of flooding in burned areas by planting trees and vegetation to stabilize river banks, revegetating burn scars and constructing check dam structures that reduce the velocity of runoff, therefore reducing erosion.
In 2024, conservation service corps across the state deployed 947 total AmeriCorps members on conservation projects.
These members, according to Segerstrom, constructed or maintained 1,040 miles of trail and treated more than 3,000 acres for the threat of an uncontrolled wildland fire. They removed more than 25,000 hazard trees from fire-threatened forests. And they revegetated burned areas with 3,158 trees and plants.
The corps “are key partners for the Colorado Department of Natural Resources. They provide added capacity and hands-on work for trail building, land reclamation and wildfire risk reduction just to name a few,” said Alison Lerch, DNR’s forestry and wildfire mitigation policy advisor.
“By the end of 2025, they will treat over 3,000 acres in priority areas in Colorado, completing tasks like clearing evacuation zones, creating fire breaks, or reducing fuel/brush in our forests to reduce the impacts of large scale wildfires,” Lerch added.
But their wildfire work is just the tip of the iceberg.
Conserving Colorado on a dime
Colorado has four national parks, nine national monuments, 42 state parks, more than 300 state wildlife areas, and 11 national forests. It’s home to around 39,000 miles of trail ranging from high alpine to multiuse paths to bird watching trails on the Eastern Plains. And it’s dotted with 2,000 lakes and reservoirs, and threaded with 9,000 miles of rivers and streams, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife.
Conservation service corps members have their hands — and saws, and pickaxes and boots — in all of this, doing technical, high-altitude repairs on trails in sensitive ecosystems, constructing bridges and clearing trail corridors, constructing or removing barbwire, round wire and buck-and-rail fences, removing invasive species and retrofitting homes for energy and water conservation.
Mile High Youth Corps members fix fencing in Colorado. (Courtesy Mile High Youth Corps)But the crux is that these positions could go up in smoke if DOGE continues slashing funds for programs it finds unimportant. Already, AmeriCorps has lost $400 million in funding, which hit 1,000 programs across the U.S., including some of the 37 in Colorado.
For the moment, the grants held by the Colorado Youth Corps Association have been spared, but the situation isn’t completely clean. “We go as our partners go,” Segerstrom said, meaning when agencies like the Forest Service, Department of Agriculture or BLM lose federal funding, the conservation corps lose opportunities.
“So we are patiently waiting as our federal partners navigate the next iteration of their spending plans and what they are able to accomplish with us,” Segerstrom said. “We’ll hopefully have another summer of our prolific lifesaving partnership.”
Section by Tracy Ross | Reporter
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Last chance: Colorado SunFest tickets! The big day is Friday, May 16. Get your tickets now!
Reader poll: 38.4% say we’re already in a recession
While some folks already feel like we’re in a recession, the National Bureau of Economic Research hasn’t officially declared it. But then, such declarations often come months after the start of one.
Approximately 159 respondents shared a mix of doom-and-gloom comments and criticism of the current U.S. administration, tariffs and chaotic expense cuts. Said Sylvia in Cortez: “25% off sale is not a sale. It’s what we paid regular price (for) in 2024, 2023. Consumers are paying company tariffs already.”
A different era, but maybe not so much, pointed out Carle from Montrose:
“I think this is different from a normal recession, because it’s caused by the government’s actions and not just business miscalculations,” he wrote. “I just see everyday people really pulling back on discretionary spending. Half-full restaurants, entertainment venues not at capacity, and everyone is getting chickens and planting gardens. Reminds me of stories my grandparents would tell me about the war.”
And there were others offering a different point of view, “Government spending will slow over more time than projected while jobs, salaries and consumer spending will remain strong,” wrote Harvey from Steamboat Springs.
So, what should we all do? “Squirrel away savings” was picked by 33.5% of the respondents, “Spend money to keep the economy going” got 11.6% of the vote. The top response? “Keep reading The Colorado Sun!” at 37.4%.
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Other working bits
An under-construction King Soopers store at U.S. 287 and Arapahoe Road in Erie on Sept. 30, 2024, across the street from a Safeway store. (Doug Conarroe, The Colorado Sun)➔ Union-funded economic report highlights understaffed grocery stores. During the King Soopers worker strike earlier this year, employees shared stories about staffing shortages that created long and little time to restock shelves. This week, the Economic Roundtable released its “Bullies at the Table” report, after surveying thousands of grocery store workers in Colorado, California and Washington. In it, 87% of grocery workers said “there is not enough staff at my store” while 75% didn’t have enough time to complete all tasks during their shift.
The report — funded by several unions including UFCW Local 7, which represents 15,700 grocery workers in Colorado — surveyed 3,711 UFCW members who work for Kroger or Albertsons, according to Dan Flaming, the report’s author. Approximately 270 were from Colorado.
Local 7 is still negotiating with Kroger-owned King Soopers on a contract. The February strike ended after two weeks as both sides agreed to pause for 100 days and return to negotiations. That 100 days will be up at the end of May. But then the union sued King Soopers last month for not negotiating in good faith, which the company said claims “are without merit.”
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Section by Tamara Chuang | Business/Technology Reporter
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