GOCO Awards Funds for Local Conservation Corps Sawyers

Larimer County Youth Corps (LCCC) members range in age from 18-25 years old. They become S-212 and Wilderness First Aid certified before operating chainsaws to complete fire mitigation, tree removal and fire restoration projects throughout Larimer County. (Photo courtesy of Larimer County Conservation Corps)

The Colorado Youth Corps Association recently announced that 260 Colorado young people will get jobs this summer working on critical outdoor recreation and land conservation projects throughout the state. These projects will enhance Colorado’s trails, parks, open spaces, and wildlife habitat in 17 counties throughout the state. Funds for this project were awarded by Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO), which receives a portion of Colorado Lottery proceeds, through the Colorado Youth Corps Association for use by accredited conservation service corps. The goal of the program is to employ crews throughout the state on critical outdoor recreation and land conservation projects in partnership with local governments and open space agencies. In June 2023, the GOCO board announced that GOCO would invest $1,200,000 of funding in conservation service corps work in 2024.

Former LCCC sawyer crew members have moved into leadership positions with local, state, and national organizations. (Photo courtesy of Larimer County Conservation Corps)

Funding Sawyer Time in Northern Colorado

As part of this program, the Elkhorn Creek Forest Health Initiative (ECFHI), a partnership among the Coalition for the Poudre River Watershed, Larimer County Conservation Corps (LCCC), The Nature Conservancy, Wildlands Restoration Volunteers, and The Ember Alliance, was awarded 10 weeks of LCCC sawyer crew time to continue forest management work on the Ben Delatour Scout Ranch in northern Larimer County, representing an investment of $111,000 for the summer 2024 season. The site to be treated contains heavy small diameter fuel loads posing a high wildfire hazard. Corps members will reduce the density of hazardous fuels, targeting ladder fuels and raising canopy base height, while connecting acreage treated over the past nine years by the ECFHI. The goal is to modify potential wildfire behavior to protect nearby communities, safeguard water resources and forest health, and to increase stewardship workforce capacity for the region.

The ECFHI has worked together since 2015, treating nearly 1,000 acres of forest by multiple management techniques, including hand thinning/slash piling/pile burning, mechanical whole tree removal, and broadcast prescribed fire. GOCO has invested over $565,000 in youth corps work along Elkhorn Creek over the past decade.

Fire mitigation work on the Ben Delatour Scout Ranch is part of a regional effort, called the Northern Colorado Fireshed Collaborative, aimed at reducing wildfire severity and post-fire impacts. (Photo courtesy of Larimer County Conservation Corps)

Not only will critical forest management work be accomplished with this award, but youth corps crews will receive educational presentations from ECFHI partners and other land management agencies about the work, giving them the context they need to see how their work fits into a landscape-scale vision for a resilient Poudre River Watershed. Former sawyer crew members have moved on into leadership positions with local, state, and national organizations, making these GOCO dollars much more impactful over time than just the work on the ground.