Arkansas River Watershed Collaborative asks county to back wildfire mitigation, monitoring and watershed restoration work

Jonathan Pappley, representing the Arkansas River Watershed Collaborative (ARWC), told the Lake County Board of County Commissioners on March 11 that the nonprofit is continuing and expanding wildfire mitigation, watershed restoration and water-quality monitoring across the Arkansas River basin headwaters.

"We were formed out of a need for wildfire mitigation, post fire flooding, back in 2017," Pappley said, describing ARWC—s work since the 2017 season and citing the group—s recent recovery effort for the Interlaken fire. "We work across private and public land from a water perspective."

Pappley outlined three primary program areas: CoSWAP-supported wildfire mitigation crews (Colorado—s strategic wildfire action planning program, administered by the state, which provides crews and project management support), the Twin Lakes…