San Juan County commissioners voted to adopt the county'wide Community Wildfire Preparedness Plan for 2026, a five-year document county staff said is required by the state and updates risk maps and response priorities.

The plan was presented by David K., who said the county's last CWPP was completed in 2018 and thanked staff for drafting the update. "This document is required by the state for the counties to have in place," David K. said, adding the county avoided hiring an outside consultant by producing the plan in-house.

Commissioners asked how the CWPP differs from the state'level effort under House Bill 48; Ryan (technical staff in attendance) explained the two are separate but complementary. "CWPP is specifically set up for your county," he said. "House Bill 48 is a program set up by the state that defines high-risk WUI areas at a statewide scale. They are two separate programs that can be used together." The county will be able to reference the state'ordered risk layers when prioritizing work in its CWPP, Ryan said.

Commissioners pressed staff about implementation details and local consequences. One commissioner said House Bill 48 could impose a new fee and require certified assessments that would fall unevenly on rural landowners; another urged stronger collaboration with federal land managers for fuel reduction where county property abuts national forest. "It's opening the door for insurance companies to make big decisions for people," a commissioner said of the state approach, adding concern about unknown fees and how remote residents would be assessed.

Staff said the statewide map is expected in January and that the county intends to host public information sessions and an in-person briefing with state officials so residents can ask about potential impacts and how assessments would work. The commission approved the CWPP by voice vote; commissioners recorded "aye," and the chair declared the motion carried.

Next steps: staff will post the approved CWPP, schedule outreach on how state mapping might affect county residents, and work with neighboring agencies where forest-service lands are involved.