Colorado Statewide Forest Resource Assessment

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transport of materi als that can adversely affect water quality for human use;and serious alteration or destruction of aquatic habitat (CSFS 2002). The 1996Buffalo Creek Fire and 2002 Hayman Fire subjected Denver’s municipal watersupply to just this kind of damage and cost the Denver Water Board millionsof dollars for repairs and rehabilitation.Analysis: Forest management can reduce the risk of damaging wildfi re inhigh-priority watersheds by reducing competition, and enhancing appropriateage and species diversity, as well as overall forest resilience. In an effort toidentify the areas where this type of management could be most meaningfullyapplied, the CSFS chose to focus this analysis on forested watersheds ofimportance for drinking water supply. The assessment team worked with theColorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) to identify642 sixth-level forested watersheds (typically 10,000 to 40,000 acres) witha direct link to critical infrastructure for municipal drinking water, such asintakes, reservoirs and trans-basin diversions. The forested portions of thesewatersheds cover 9.4 million acres and the primary forest types are spruce-fi r,aspen and ponderosa pine.These watersheds then were combined with a modeled geospatial analysisshowing areas of susceptibility to post-fi re erosion across the state. Keyfactors in this susceptibility analysis include vegetation, climate, soil type,topography and predicted fi re behavior. Approximately 5.6 million forestedacres in Colorado are at high to very high risk for negative impacts frompost-fi re erosion. The validity of this analysis was partially assessed by plottingpreviously documented incidents of post-fi re erosion over the modeledoutput. Nearly all of these incidents occurred in the very high categoryidentifi ed by the model, with a small percentage falling in the moderate andhigh designations.Map 14 – Important Watersheds for Drinking Water40
Forest typeAcresSpruce-Fir 2,352,954Lodgepole 947,846Aspen 2,119,707Mixed Conifer 685,669Ponderosa Pine 1,169,920Montane Riparian 360,321Piñon-Juniper 823,763Oak Shrubland 888,784Plains Riparian 16,536Introduced Riparian 15,620Not Forested 4,357,960Total 13,739,080Table 14a – Important Watersheds for Drinking Water by Forest TypeOwnerAcresUSFS 5,319,282BLM 877,885NPS 214,028USFWS 2,680DOD 13,782Federal-Other 63,153State 137,310Tribal 1,952Local Govt. 120,092Private 2,630,777Total 9,380,940Table 14b – Important Watersheds for Drinking Water by Ownership/ManagementWhen combined, these two layers reveal 371 forested watersheds covering5.6 million acres where drinking water supply infrastructure is at high to veryhigh risk from post-fi re erosion. Ponderosa pine forests have the highestnumber of acres (707,721) in the very high risk category, but when very highand high are combined, spruce-fi r and aspen dominate with roughly 1.27million acres each. The majority of the high and very high risk watersheds arein USFS (3.8 million acres) and private (2.72 million acres) ownership.41
Page 1 and 2: Colorado Statewide ForestResource A
Page 3: Table of ContentsI. Executive Summa
Page 6 and 7: II.BackgroundThe Colorado Statewide
Page 8 and 9: National Guidance for Statewide For
Page 10 and 11: III. Overview of Colorado’s Fores
Page 12 and 13: Spruce-Fir 9Spruce-fi r is among th
Page 14 and 15: Mixed Conifer 14The mixed conifer f
Page 16 and 17: Oak ShrublandsOak shrublands cover
Page 18 and 19: Windbreaks, shelterbelts and their
Page 20 and 21: Owner Spruce-Fir Lodgepole Aspen Mi
Page 22 and 23: forest management costs per acre ha
Page 24 and 25: include standard ownership data and
Page 26 and 27: The second metric is an estimate of
Page 28 and 29: Map 4 - Colorado Forest Legacy Area
Page 30 and 31: NATIONAL THEME: Protect Forests fro
Page 32 and 33: Map 7 - Wildland Fire Susceptibilit
Page 34 and 35: Map 8 - Wildland Fire Intensity Ind
Page 36 and 37: ot (CSFS 2001 and 2002). Some insec
Page 38 and 39: Map 10 - Insect and Disease Mitigat
Page 40 and 41: is legally mandated, as well as dal
Page 42 and 43: change, including species extinctio
Page 46 and 47: Map 15 - Post-Fire Erosion RiskMap
Page 48 and 49: environment, many homes and other s
Page 50 and 51: Owner 0.5 mile 1 mile 2 mile TotalU
Page 52 and 53: Map 18 - Wildland-Urban Interface w
Page 54 and 55: Map 20 - Wildland-Urban Interface w
Page 56 and 57: They also are important partners in
Page 58 and 59: Forest TypeAcres for Wood Products
Page 60 and 61: of fragmentation to help forest man
Page 62 and 63: Forest Type Low Moderate High Very
Page 64 and 65: Map 25 - Important Habitat for Econ
Page 66 and 67: ACRESImp. Habitat for Econ.Imp. Spe
Page 68 and 69: Forest Type Low Moderate High Very
Page 70 and 71: Map 28 - Community Forestry Opportu
Page 72 and 73: Enhance Public Benefits from Trees
Page 78 and 79: VI. ReferencesAlexander, K. [Intern
Page 80 and 81: Neely, B., Comer, P., Moritz, C., L
Page 82 and 83: VII. Statewide Assessment Steering
Page 84 and 85: APPENDIX A - Colorado Statewide For
Page 86 and 87: • Identify and conserve high prio
Page 88 and 89: assessments and resource strategies
Page 90 and 91: National Theme: Protect Forests fro
Page 92 and 93: Protect, conserve, and enhance wild
Page 94:
States are encouraged to draw from
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Colorado Statewide Forest Resource Assessment

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