Community Collaboration on Forest Health
Group Members: Julien Blundell, Brian Chamberlain, Korey McQuaide
Boulder Watershed Collective (BWC) has been working with communities and agencies to improve watershed health within the Boulder Creek watershed area for the past year. This has involved discussions with forest practitioners throughout the county to engage a collaborative, cross-jurisdictional planning process for forest health and fire mitigation projects. BWC has recently initiated a 180-acre forest restoration project adjacent to National Forest System lands that will decrease wildfire risk for the town of Gold Hill while enhancing ecological benefits of the forest. The MENV Capstone team will aid BWC in improving the fire preparedness of Gold Hill by tracking the developments of this project, surveying the community, and building programming in relation to the survey for community education and engagement. Final analysis and recommendations for possible future programming will be collected in a single report for internal use by BWC, as it continues to develop programming and adapts these techniques for use in other communities at risk of wildfire.