The Colorado State Forest Service and its partners conducted a vast majority of their forest management work in high-priority areas of the state and greatly increased the acres of forests they managed and enhanced annually from 2020 through 2024, according to a review of the 2020 Colorado Forest Action Plan published this month.
The Forest Action Plan is a 10-year, science-based, collaborative roadmap for protecting Colorado’s forests and the many benefits they provide. The CSFS completed a five-year review of the plan, following requirements from the USDA Forest Service and National Association of State Foresters.
Wise investments where they could make the greatest impact
The review captures projects completed across jurisdictions and tracked using the Colorado Forest Tracker, overlayed on the composite priority map from the Forest Action Plan. Eighty-nine percent of those projects occurred in areas deemed a very high (25%) or high (64%) priority in the plan, and acres managed increased from nearly 70,000 acres in 2020 to roughly 95,000 acres in 2024, reaching over 140,000 acres in 2023, according to data compiled in the Colorado Forest Tracker as of February 2026.
“Since we first put the Forest Action Plan on paper, Colorado’s seen some of the biggest and most destructive wildfires in our history. It’s gotten warmer and drier, our forests are more stressed, and more Coloradans are living closer to that fire risk,” said Matt McCombs, state forester and director of the CSFS. “The good news is leaders at every level stepped up and put real money behind the work. This five-year review shows we put those dollars where they’d do the most good — and we’re building on that foundation as we gear up for the hard but necessary work still ahead.”
89% of projects from 2020 through 2024 occurred in areas deemed a very high or high priority in the Forest Action Plan
Highlights toward goals in the Forest Action Plan by theme
The CSFS collaborated with dozens of stakeholders and subject matter experts to produce the 2020 Colorado Forest Action Plan, which is required by the USDA Forest Service through the federal Farm Bill and is linked to the national priorities of Conserve, Protect and Enhance. The plan spans public and private lands in Colorado and contains goals and strategies for improving forest health, organized into six themes: Forest Conditions, Living With Wildfire, Watershed Protection, Forest Wildlife, Urban and Community Forestry, and Forest Products.
The 2020 Colorado Forest Action Plan Five Year Review shares accomplishments over the past several years toward goals for each theme, as well as statewide accomplishments that cross themes. Explore highlights below and check out the full review for more accomplishments and interactive maps by theme with locations in Colorado where the CSFS and its partners implemented projects that achieved goals for that theme.
Forest Conditions
- From 2020 through 2024, the USDA Forest Service and CSFS surveyed 135,129,780 acres of forests from the air to inspect and record the damage from insects and diseases.
- From 2020 to 2024, Forest Inventory and Analysis crews with the CSFS, in partnership with the USDA Forest Service, visited 2,189 plots across all land ownerships to gather objective, scientifically credible data on Colorado’s forest conditions.
- With more than $15 million in combined investments from the State of Colorado and the USDA Forest Service, the CSFS broke ground on a major renovation and modernization of the CSFS Nursery in Fort Collins.
- In 2022, the CSFS established an official Forest Monitoring program to inform adaptive management. Prior to 2022, the CSFS monitored 398 acres of forest treatments. After 2022, the CSFS now monitors more than 4,600 acres of treatments.
- In 2025, the CSFS and CFRI launched the Colorado Forest Tracker, an online tool providing a comprehensive view of treatments by federal, state, local and nonprofit partners.
Living With Wildfire
- In 2022, the CSFS updated the Colorado Wildfire Risk Assessment located within the Colorado Forest Atlas. This publicly accessible resource offers the most comprehensive and comparable geospatial data for wildfire risk available statewide.
- The Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control established the Colorado Wildfire Resiliency Code Board in 2023 to enhance community safety and resiliency from wildfires through the adoption of codes and standards.
- The CSFS published the Home Ignition Zone guide in 2021 and has distributed over 45,000 copies of the guide to partners and the public since then.
- From 2020 through 2025, the CSFS awarded $40.3 million through the Forest Restoration and Wildfire Risk Mitigation grant program to support community-level actions that reduce the risk of uncharacteristic wildfire. With FRWRM funds, partners treated nearly 25,500 acres at risk to the negative impacts of wildfire.
- The Colorado Department of Natural Resources established the Colorado Strategic Wildfire Action Program and has awarded over $40 million in grant funds through the program from 2022 through 2025.
Watershed Protection
- The CSFS updated the Forestry Best Management Practices to Protect Water Quality in Colorado in 2023 and requires contractors to adhere to these guidelines.
- The CSFS treated about 4,000 acres in Denver Water’s Zones of Concern from 2020 to 2023 to restore forest health in the Colorado and South Platte river basins.
- The Colorado Water Conservation Board established the Wildfire Ready Watersheds Program in 2021 to assess the susceptibility of Colorado’s water resources, communities and critical infrastructure to post-wildfire impacts.
- In 2022, the state legislature passed House Bill 22-1379 to provide $3 million for projects that reduce wildfire fuels around high-priority watersheds and water infrastructure.
Forest Wildlife
- The CSFS began an Adaptive Silviculture for Climate Change project on the Colorado State Forest to study different treatment types in high-elevation spruce-fir forests for a variety of management goals, including enhancing habitat for lynx and other wildlife.
- Through the Forest Legacy Program, partners protected over 16,000 acres of forestland on the Banded Peak Ranch in southern Colorado and preserved one of the most important migration corridors for mule deer and elk in the Rocky Mountains.
- Since 2020, the CSFS has provided 59,350 seedlings through the Restoring Colorado’s Forests Fund program to private landowners across Colorado to restore important wildlife habitat and achieve other goals.
- In Rio Grande County, the CSFS enhanced wildlife habitat on 587 acres of Bureau of Land Management lands and 180 acres of private lands.
Urban and Community Forestry
- Since 2020, the CSFS conducted 24 tree inventories in communities and added over 11,000 trees to the Colorado Tree View database.
- The Colorado Tree Coalition provided pass-through grants to 97 communities in Colorado since 2020. They also distributed 13,253 low-cost trees to 165 groups.
- Colorado has increased its number of Tree City USA communities to 96 with three new communities in the past five years, and at least 23 communities have received Tree City USA Growth Awards since 2020.
- Since 2020, the CSFS has provided more than 120 workshops and trainings related to urban trees and forests, and partners launched the Trees in the West conference.
- The CSFS provided funding to 14 communities and projects to plant more than 400 trees, remove over 300 hazardous trees and support local management of urban forests through the Colorado IRA Urban & Community Forestry grant program.
Forest Products
- The CSFS awarded $500,000 to 12 small businesses in rural communities in Colorado through the Biomass Utilization grant program in 2022 and 2023.
- From 2020 to 2024, the USDA Forest Service awarded $9.2 million to Colorado businesses and organizations in the forest products industry through its Wood Innovations program.
- In 2024 and 2025, the CSFS awarded $113,000 in grants to 15 businesses to support 26 new positions across Colorado through a new workforce development program.
- Over the last five years, the CSFS increased the average size of forest health and fuels reduction treatments, which helped to temper higher project costs. The average size of a project designed and put out to bid by the CSFS increased from an average of 56 acres in fiscal year 2021 to an average of 142 acres in fiscal year 2025.
- The Colorado Mass Timber Coalition launched in 2023 and now has 400 members. The CMTC supports healthy, resilient forests through a vibrant forest products economy.
Cross-Themes
- From 2020 through 2024, the CSFS hosted 55 summer interns through its Experiential Learning Program, growing the program from three interns in 2020 to 19 interns in 2024.
- From 2020 through 2024, the Colorado Forest Atlas – a one-stop shop to access statewide geospatial data and information related to wildfire risk, forestry and natural resources – had 1,865 active users, generating 44,000 views of the Wildfire Risk Viewer app and 8,300 views of the Wildfire Risk Reduction Planner app.
- The CSFS partnered with many organizations over the past five years to conduct joint research projects and deliver the best available science for forest health and management, including the Colorado forest carbon framework, use of drones to assess forest treatments and a Colorado woody biomass assessment.
“I’m proud to see what has been accomplished over the last five years with the Colorado Forest Action Plan,” said Dan Gibbs, executive director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources. “This visual representation of completed projects aimed at protecting our state’s vital forest resources, communities, wildlife habitat and watersheds really showcases our efforts to work strategically across all land ownership boundaries and in partnership with federal, state and local agencies and organizations.”
The CSFS will work with partners to update the Forest Action Plan in 2030.