The National Forest Foundation asked Chaffee County commissioners on Tuesday to approve release of a $450,000 deferred Chaffee Common Ground payment to fund additional fuels‑reduction work through the Upper Arkansas Forest Fund.

Sam Pankratz, Rocky Mountain region program manager for the National Forest Foundation, told the board the fund is a pooled financing mechanism that “mix[es] and match[es] a variety of different funds” to speed implementation of priority wildfire treatments across federal, state and private ownerships in the Upper Arkansas watershed.

The request is tied to the NFF’s work implementing the Chaffee County Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP). “Within the Chaffee County Community Wildfire Protection Plan, there is 30,000 acres of priority treatments identified. Ten thousand of those acres were identified on private land,” Pankratz said. He said the fund has mobilized partners and projects to address those priorities and is roughly 25 percent of the way toward the fund’s acreage commitments in the county.

Why it matters: NFF staff said pooled funding reduces competition for limited grants and can unlock matching sources — including a Natural Resources Conservation Service Regional Conservation Partnership Program award and state incentives — so the county’s Common Ground contribution can be used as local match to multiply work on the ground.

Shannon Smith, NFF Central Colorado program coordinator, walked commissioners through how landowners are selected and the project pipeline: projects are prioritized using Colorado Forest Restoration Institute risk modeling, landowner consent is required for treatments on private parcels, and implementation depends on building “critical mass” of treatable acres so contractors can be mobilized efficiently. She said the fund has already paid for many forest management plans through RCPP match money and that about $7 million of the pooled $12 million raised for Chaffee and Lake counties remains as restricted balances tied to specific funder requirements.

NFF staff described a table in their packet showing the Chaffee Common Ground grant’s original budget and a remaining balance of about $556,000; they said roughly $450,000 of that is a deferred payment, not funds currently in hand. Pankratz framed the county request as a timing issue: “When we apply for these outside funds, we have to have a very specific place,” he said, adding that many funders require both a mapped scope and that certain funds be spent on designated ownership categories such as state land or BLM.

Questions from commissioners focused on governance and selection: who makes site‑selection decisions (NFF described a practitioner‑level “Chaffee Treats” group that uses the CWPP as a North Star, with technical input from state and federal partners), the role of the county in the process (commissioner Gabe said county representatives will be included in the Chaffee Treats conversations), and long‑term maintenance and noxious‑weed monitoring after treatments (NFF said they emphasize landowner education and are exploring monitoring partnerships but do not presently require long‑term maintenance covenants).

Costs and scale: NFF gave typical per‑acre cost ranges depending on treatment type — pinyon‑juniper mastication at around $500 per acre on average, ponderosa/Douglas fir mechanized treatments in the $1,500–$2,500 per acre range, and steep‑slope tethered logging that can run $5,000–$8,000 per acre for high‑complexity sites.

Next steps: NFF said the deferred $450,000 payment would unlock several projects in the pipeline, including a large Maxwell State Land parcel that is adjacent to community infrastructure and could accelerate work because state incentive funds must be spent in tandem with Common Ground match. Commissioners did not vote during the presentation; staff asked that the item be considered for the consent agenda at the next meeting so the board can decide whether to authorize release of the deferred payment.

Speakers quoted in this article appear in the meeting transcript and were identified by name and role during the presentation: Sam Pankratz (National Forest Foundation Rocky Mountain region program manager), Shannon Smith (National Forest Foundation Central Colorado program coordinator), Marcus Seale (Chief conservation officer, title given in remarks), and Joe Laberini (Rocky Mountain region director, on the call).