Natural-resources staff seek weed-control contracts and outline wildfire/watershed projects funded by CWCB and grant proposals
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Summary
The county's natural-resources team presented proposals for noxious-weed treatments, training to restore spraying capacity, and progress on a Dolores Watershed Collaborative wildfire-ready action plan; CWCB provided $50,000 supplemental funding and the department applied for a National Fish and Wildlife Foundation grant to expand thinning and post-fire work.
Natural-resources staff presented a suite of near-term and multi-year projects at the workshop, requesting endorsement of cost-share, contract and training proposals to restore operational capacity and respond to increased noxious-weed pressures.
Staff summarized three contractor proposals for right-of-way (spot) weed spraying in southern county roads: a $9,500 proposal covering roughly 22 miles of road, and a tiered proposal from another vendor offering 5.75 miles for $5,146.25 up to 10 miles for $8,950. Staff also presented a $9,955 training and on-the-job supervision proposal to rebuild internal right-of-way spraying capacity.
On watershed and wildfire work, staff said the Dolores Watershed Collaborative's wildfire-ready action plan is nearing completion and the Colorado Water Conservation Board has supplemented the project with an extra $50,000 for modeling and community engagement. Staff also reported a $1,000,000 National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Healthy Healthy Forests initiative proposal that would fund additional thinning, post-fire monitoring, road decommissioning and wood-haul projects.
Next steps: commissioners will review contractor proposals and training budgets; staff will continue watershed planning, schedule community workshops and pursue grant awards to fund implementation.
