Forest Health Council moves to finalize 30‑year vision, focuses next on stewardship, tracking and legislative outreach

The Colorado Forest Health Council met in a special session to refine how the council will move a near‑final 30‑year vision from document to action, with members emphasizing broad stakeholder buy‑in, a funding and stewardship plan, and legislative engagement ahead of a planned vote on Oct. 29.

Allison (co‑administrator for the council, representing Dan Gibson, Colorado Department of Natural Resources) said the council should treat the document as "recommendations" because many strategies will require outside funding, capacity and advocacy, and she urged members not to assign specific agency ownership until there is wider buy‑in. "What we have just created is something big and robust," Allison said, "and it exceeds the abilities of the folks in our council."

The council debated practical next steps for implementation. Ideas brought forward included: creating a simple public sign‑on or signature page that agencies and partner organizations can adopt to show stewardship; commissioning a student research team to build a dashboard or tracking framework; and seeking legislative support to fund a steward role for the vision. "Maybe that's one of our legislative recommendations for 2026," Madeline McDonald said when urging a funded steward to track progress, provide continuity and help with outreach.

Courtney (co‑administrator) proposed a pilot research engagement with CU Boulder MEMB students to produce a framework or dashboard to track progress and do supporting interviews and research, with the Conservation Leadership Program at Colorado State University offered as an alternate source of student project teams. "We thought it could be nice to bring on a student research team to help us create a platform or maybe a framework for the vision," Courtney said.

Becca Simulski (facilitator, Fire Adapted Colorado) suggested a sign‑on modeled on community wildfire protection plans: "A bunch of different partners sign on to it together," she said. Several council members supported a visible, shareable graphic and web link so local collaboratives and agencies can show they "support this" and link to the plan.

Several commissioners pressed the council to keep the legislative pathway in view. "Ultimately, it's a charge to provide a recommendation to the legislature that will ultimately result in bills," Commissioner Leighton (Douglas County) said, urging the council to translate vision into specific, sponsorable actions. The council noted a planned capital educational breakfast for legislators, likely in early January, as an early outreach opportunity and discussed targeting gubernatorial and legislative briefings to secure sponsors and funding.

Administrators asked members to review the near‑final draft and send any "watch‑outs" or edits by the end of the week so the package is ready for the Oct. 29 vote. Courtney and Allison emphasized that the Department of Natural Resources, which administratively houses the council, can provide staff support but that additional resources will be needed to steward and sustain a full implementation effort.

The council did not take any formal votes during the special session. Members agreed to return to the matter at the regular quarterly meeting on Oct. 29, and staff said they will prepare a recommended rollout that includes a signature page and options for tracking progress.

The meeting closed with agreement to use the council's diverse membership to amplify the vision and to pursue both bottom‑up (local collaboratives) and top‑down (legislative and gubernatorial) pathways to secure the resources needed to implement the strategy.