| Contacts: | Denise Adamic, BLM (719) 269-8553 |
BLM Colorado presents State Director’s Excellence in Stewardship Award to Boulder County (02-28-12)
BOULDER, Colo. – The BLM Colorado Associate State Director presented the Boulder County Commissioners with the BLM State Director’s Excellence through Stewardship Award Tuesday at the Boulder County courthouse.
This is the first year for the award, which acknowledges BLM’s partners for their collaboration and efforts in promoting public lands stewardship.
The BLM recognized Boulder County for its efforts in coordinating and implementing the Emergency Stabilization and Rehabilitation Project (ES&R) following the 2010 Fourmile Canyon Fire. The fire burned across federal, private, county, state, and city lands creating a mix of jurisdictions. Due to this complex ownership pattern, the agencies involved decided to ignore boundary lines and treat the entire watershed as one unit. Boulder County took the lead in coordinating the ES&R Project group including the BLM, U.S. Forest Service, the National Resource Conservation Service, Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety, and the Colorado State Forest Service.
“Boulder County’s coordination of this important work is reducing the risk of additional damage to private, county, and federal land,” said BLM Colorado State Director Helen Hankins. “The BLM deeply appreciates the County’s efforts to increase public safety following the Fourmile Canyon Fire.”
In March 2011, the BLM’s Royal Gorge Field Office began on the ground work with Boulder County to put the ES&R plan in motion. Boulder County successfully organized various, large-scale volunteer events including hand seeding along many of the roads across the burned area and overseeing the aerial mulching efforts.
The Fourmile Canyon Fire was the most destructive fire in Colorado history in terms of damage to personal property, with an estimated cost of $217 million in losses.
To learn more about the Fourmile Canyon ES&R Team’s efforts please contact: John Smeins, BLM Hydrologist, at 719-269-8581 or at jsmeins@glm.gov
The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land, the most of any Federal agency. This land, known as the National System of Public Lands, is primarily located in 12 Western states, including Alaska. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. The BLM's multiple-use mission is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations. In Fiscal Year 2012, activities on public lands generated $4.6 billion in revenue, much of which was shared with the States where the activities occurred. In addition, public lands contributed more than $112 billion to the U.S. economy and helped support more than 500,000 jobs.
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