Larimer County updates ICARE plan; landscaping electrification pilot, new EV chargers and $1.1M wildfire grants highlighted

Larimer County commissioners received an update Monday on the county’s Internal Climate Action, Resilience and Education plan — known as ICARE — that outlined 2024 accomplishments and 2025 work plans, including a landscaping‑equipment electrification pilot that supported local small businesses, new public electric‑vehicle charging stations on county property, and state funding for wildfire resilience projects.

The update, presented by Abby Stapleton, sustainability program coordinator in the county’s Office of Sustainability and Climate, reviewed the county’s internal greenhouse‑gas inventory, progress across four ICARE categories — unifying solutions, built environment and waste, mobility, and natural resources/water/agriculture — and specific programs the county advanced in 2024. “Larimer County is considered a pioneer” in pursuing a consumption‑based inventory, Stapleton said, referring to the county’s effort to account for procurement and other indirect emissions in addition to building and fleet emissions.

Why it matters: the ICARE update ties operational changes at county facilities to broader county goals on air quality, resilience and greenhouse‑gas reductions, and identifies grant opportunities and partnerships that would expand programs countywide.

Landscaping electrification pilot Leah Schneider of the Larimer County Health Department’s air quality team described a 2024 pilot that awarded vouchers to small commercial landscapers to buy battery‑powered, American Green Zone Alliance (AGZA/AGSA)‑certified equipment. Schneider said landscaping equipment is a major local contributor to ozone formation and greenhouse gases; county materials referenced Regional Air Quality Council analyses that estimate landscaping equipment contributes to volatile organic compound and nitrogen oxides emissions and to several high‑ozone days in the region.

County staff said commissioners allocated roughly $95,000 in 2024 for the pilot. Staff reported the program supported 14 awardees, resulting in 94 pieces of electric equipment and 38 additional batteries purchased through local retailers that accepted county vouchers. Recipients paid sales tax (staff estimated roughly $400–$500 per recipient). Stapleton and Schneider said vouchers were on the order of…