Steamboat Springs receives $1M grant for tree removal

The Steamboat Pilot reported today that the city of Steamboat Springs has received a $1 million grant through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the Colorado State Forest Service for removal of trees that present a wildfire risk in the Steamboat area. The project is expected to start in early December on land owned by the city, Steamboat Ski and Resort Corp., several homeowners’ associations and private homeowners in the city and Routt County. In a Thursday news release, the city cited lodgepole pines affected by the bark beetle epidemic as a focus of the project.

“The tremendous number of standing dead trees in this old-growth forest has resulted in very high to extreme forest fuels loading, as well as increased the risk of injury and property damage from hazard tree blowdown,” the release stated. Ron Lindroth, hired as the city’s Fire Department chief in September, is coordinating the project.