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Resident urges Gilpin County to press Forest Service and clear fuels behind Wheeler neighborhood
Summary
During public comment, Allison Baker implored commissioners to seek removal of piled timber and to improve egress from the Wheeler neighborhood to reduce wildfire risk; she offered to lead a site walk and said she had contacted multiple agencies with no result.
Allison Baker addressed the Gilpin County Board during the public comment period on April 14, saying the forested area behind the Wheeler neighborhood is dangerously overstocked with unremoved timber and that residents have limited egress.
Baker identified herself and said she represented "the forests and the old neighborhoods of Gilpin County," recounting attendance at an emergency management meeting and subsequent research. She described spending roughly 40 hours investigating local mitigation efforts and said she was "deeply troubled by the lack of care" for forests behind small‑cabin neighborhoods where there is only a single egress. Baker asked the board to press Timberline or the National Forest Service to clear piled timber and, if the Forest Service could not act, to consider allowing fundraising by residents to remove the material.
"Please get the wood out of the forest behind these neighborhoods or release an egress so that those of us on the forest are not going to be subject to the death and destruction of that fire," she said, offering to lead a walk for commissioners and staff to show the conditions. Baker said she had contacted fire officials, Timberline, the National Forest office and the office of emergency management with no resolution.
The board took no formal action during the public‑comment period beyond receiving the statement; staff or commissioners may follow up through county emergency management and intergovernmental channels.
