In October 2023, the Colorado State Forest Service completed a 299-acre project to protect critical infrastructure that provides clean drinking water to 1.8 million people. This project in northeastern Park County near Bailey, Colo., treated unhealthy and overstocked stands of mixed conifer and lodgepole pine to accomplish multiple management goals:
- Improve the overall health of the forest
- Create ecologically resilient forest conditions
- Provide support to the natural forest structures and disturbance regimes
- Create an effective fire break
- Protect critical water resources, wildlife habitat, recreation opportunities and communities at risk of wildfires
Protecting the Deer Creek Watershed
This Deer Creek GNA project focused on forests in the Pike National Forest Deer Creek Sub-Watershed in the northwestern corner of the Upper South Platte Watershed. The water from Deer Creek feeds directly into the North Fork South Platte River, which is a critical resource for the Strontia Springs Reservoir.
The Deer Creek watershed received a rating of “high” by the Watershed Wildfire Protection Group, identifying it as a key area for forest restoration and wildfire mitigation treatment due to high risks of wildfire, flooding, debris flow, soil erodibility hazards and concerns of water use.
Collaboration through Good Neighbor Authority
A project of this size would not be a success without partnerships. The CSFS Golden Field Office and USFS South Platte Ranger District under Good Neighbor Authority collaborated to complete the project and protect water sources for communities in Park County.
In 2000, the USFS and the CSFS began a new collaboration through the Good Neighbor Authority program that now includes partnerships with various local, state and federal agencies to complete crucial restoration projects on federal lands.
The Deer Creek Sub-Watershed is within the Pike–San Isabel National Forest and provides an opportunity for collaboration between the Colorado State Forest Service and U.S. Forest Service to complete management actions to protect the watershed and encourage forest health in the area.
Building on previous projects
The acres covered in this project added onto more than 350 acres previously treated by the CSFS. The past treatments were conducted on the nearby Crooked Top State Land Trust and on private property. The Deer Creek GNA project was strategically located to augment the impact of adjacent wildfire mitigation projects completed by the CSFS, USFS and Platte Canyon Fire Protection District since 2007.
“The aspen and wildflowers are coming back very nicely, and erosion is minimal in the patch cut units,” said Maegan Aldous, a forester with the CSFS Golden Field Office, who revisited the project site almost one year after completion.
Aldous also noted the return of grasses and other herbaceous plants in the treated areas. The CSFS Golden Field Office team is excited about the results of the project and the Good Neighbor Authority collaboration.
For more information, contact Maegan Aldous at [email protected].
