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Commissioners ratify NRCS EWP request and waive landfill fees for fire-related debris as recovery planning advances
Summary
The board ratified a formal request for Emergency Watershed Protection (EWP) funding to the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), directed staff to track debris tonnage and agreed to waive landfill fees for fire-related materials while recovery planning proceeds; scope-of-work and a recovery-manager RFP were also circulated.
Rio Blanco County commissioners moved forward on a set of wildfire-recovery items at the Sept. 23 meeting: they ratified a county request to NRCS for Emergency Watershed Protection (EWP) funds, agreed to a temporary waiver of county landfill fees for fire-related materials, and discussed release of a recovery-manager scope of work that the county had circulated publicly.
What the board approved - EWP letter ratified: The board ratified a letter requesting long-term recovery funds for watershed protection related to the Lee and Elk fires. NRCS’s EWP program provides technical and financial assistance for emergency measures to safeguard public infrastructure after disasters; the county’s letter asks NRCS to assess and consider funding long-term mitigation to protect county resources. - Landfill fee waiver for fire-related materials: The board voted to waive Rio Blanco County landfill fees for materials identified as fire-related debris (examples discussed included burned fencing and salvageable magnet‑separable metal). Commissioners directed Waste Management staff to create job-codes and track tonnage by material type (asbestos, fencing, burned building material) to preserve records for potential reimbursement claims or FEMA/NRCS reporting.
Recovery management and next steps - Recovery manager RFP/scope: County administration circulated a recovery-manager scope of work publicly. Questions on the RFP were due to county staff the day after the meeting with proposals due soon after; the county expects the recovery-manager role to coordinate grant applications (EWP, FEMA), engineering projects, contractor oversight and interagency recovery activities. The board asked that the RFP be widely advertised and that the county host a technical Q&A with potential proposers. - Tracking and federal match considerations: Commissioners directed staff to track any county in‑kind or cash match and to catalog incoming donations, sponsor funds and debris tonnage. NRCS and FEMA programs can require 25% local matches (EWP is commonly 75% federal/25% local), so the county is compiling match strategies and possible grant matches from state/federal sources.
Why it matters: Flooding and burned-basin destabilization after wildfire can trigger severe erosion and infrastructure damage. EWP and other federal programs fund restoration and stabilization work but require technical assessments, project planning and sometimes local matches — work that a recovery manager would coordinate.
Ending County staff will continue to refine the recovery-manager scope, track debris by formal job codes at the landfill, and prepare engineering and grant materials requested by NRCS. The commissioners took no procurement decision on the RFP at the Sept. 23 meeting but endorsed the county’s initial requests and the landfill-waiver policy for fire-related materials.
