Two Votes for a Healthy Poudre: CPRW Endorses Prop 137 and Larimer County 1A
The 2020 Cameron Peak Fire severely impacted watershed health across the Poudre Watershed.
The Poudre River runs black after the Cameron Peak Fire burned more than 200,000 acres (Evan Barrientos Photography).
The Coalition for the Poudre River Watershed (CPRW) is endorsing two measures on this November’s ballot: statewide Proposition 137 and Larimer County Ballot Issue 1A. Both would provide steady, long-term funding for wildfire prevention and watershed protection, and both would help protect the Poudre River, which supplies drinking water across Northern Colorado.
Why this matters to us
CPRW was formed after the 2012 High Park and Hewlett Gulch fires. In the years after those fires, every rainstorm washed ash and sediment into the Poudre. The Cameron Peak Fire in 2020 taught the same lesson on a larger scale. Our partners and neighbors know it well: preparing a watershed before a fire costs far less than repairing it afterward. The hard part has always been finding steady funding to do that work before disaster strikes.
Prop 137: statewide investment, no new tax
Prop 137 lets Colorado keep revenue it already collects from the existing sales tax on sporting goods. It does not raise taxes. The money would go to conservation, about $175 million per year. Roughly $83 million of that would fund wildfire risk reduction through established state programs, including Colorado Water Conservation Board Wildfire Ready Watersheds Program and Colorado State Forest Service grant programs including Forest Restoration and Wildfire Mitigation grants. Both of these programs have supported CPRW's work in the watershed to reduce wildfire risk. Another $83 million would go to land and water conservation through Great Outdoors Colorado.
1A: local funding for local risks
Ballot Issue 1A is a 0.3% countywide sales tax, about 3 cents on a $10 purchase. Groceries, gas, diapers, and prescription drugs are exempt. It would raise up to $34.5 million a year starting in 2027 for wildfire prevention, protection of drinking water source areas, forest health, and watershed resilience. It would also fund county roads, parks, trails, and public safety. All of the revenue would be subject to an annual independent audit.
Why both
Wildfire doesn’t stop at county lines, and neither does the Poudre River. Prop 137 strengthens statewide programs. 1A gives Larimer County its own dedicated resources to act on local plans. Together they would help our communities shift from reacting to disasters to preventing them.
We see the need every day. We’re reducing fuels along evacuation routes in the Red Feather Lakes area, and we’re restoring streams and planting trees in the Cameron Peak burn scar. After this year’s record-low snowpack, the stakes are clear.
Ballots must be received by 7 p.m. on Tuesday, November 3. Vote YES on Prop 137 and YES on 1A for a healthy, resilient Poudre.